Falling in love is easy  Seaquest fanfic 1
by Irrelevant86
Summary: Penny is the newest addition to the SeaQuest team, and it seams that she's fallen for one of the crew members, but it seems that events keep getting in the way of their relationship. Can she get him to fall in love with her, or will he fall for someone else, and most import; will she even be alive in the end?
1. Chapter 1

I looked up from the microscope as Lucas walked into the room, and up to the moon pool. Darwin the dolphin came up above the water. "Lucas play! Lucas play!" He said.

"In a little bit," Lucas replied. I looked around the room, there was a Christmas tree in the corner, that was completely decorated, and there was only five more days till Christmas.

"So, Penny what are you doing for Christmas?" Lucas asked, walking over to me.

"Staying here, and working on this paper," I said, looking back down at the microscope. My long brown hair got in the way, so I pulled it back in a ponytail.

"Oh come on you can't work on Christmas. It's just wrong," Lucas said, pulling the microscope away.

"Hey I've gotta finish that paper, and besides I don't have anyone to spend Christmas with, I'd much rather sit here and work on my paper," I said, grabbing the microscope. My paper was due to Kristin by the end of the week, after Christmas.

"Well then I guess I'll just have to stay here with you," He said, sitting down on the table.

"No you go and enjoy Christmas, don't let me stop you from having a good time," I said.

"Please my dad's probably out working and I have no idea where my mom is. I'll be by myself on Christmas most likely," He said. I smiled. Being the only teenagers on the Seaquest me and Lucas had grown very close. I remember the first day I came to the Seaquest, it was around this past Halloween…

…_I was standing next to the moon pool, petting Darwin. An older man and a guy about my age came walking into the room. "Hello," I said, turning to face them. _

"_Hello," Said, the older guy looking around. Kristin walked over._

"_Ah Nathan, Lucas I'd like you to meet Penny. She is the newest member of my science team," Kristin said. Lucas stared at me for a second._

"_Oh um hello," Lucas said._

"_Hi," I said. At that moment another guy ran into the room, holding a water gun. _

"_Hey Lucas," He exclaimed. Lucas turned and the man pointed the water gun at him. Lucas ducked out of the way just as the man fired the water gun. He completely missed Lucas and hit me square in the face. The only problem was that instead of water, it was some sort of purple goo. It was all in my hair, and covered my face._

"_Oh crap," The man said._

"_Krieg I think you better run," Lucas said. Krieg dropped the water gun and ran out of the room._

"_Are you okay?" Asked Kirstin giggling._

"_Yeah, I just have to go kill someone," I answered, grabbing the water gun and running after Krieg. I could hear Kristin, Lucas, and Nathan laughing behind me…_

…"All right fine. But don't complain to me when you get bored because I'm going to be working on my paper," I said, writing something down on a piece of paper. We were about a day away from land. I couldn't wait till we reached Baltimore. I hadn't seen snow in ages, and I'd heard it been snowing none stop since yesterday in Baltimore. Lucas's PAL rang.

"You've got Lucas and Penny," He said, into the PAL.

"Hey get down to the docking bay we've got some guest's, and I want you guys to help them get settled in," Nathan ordered, over the PAL.

"Who are these guests?" I asked. I never really trusted anyone but the people on Seaquest. Growing up on the streets will do that to you.

"We rescued them. Their tour sub had a leak. We're giving them a ride back to Baltimore," Nathan replied.

"We're on our way," Lucas said. I followed Lucas down to the docking bay. A group of people where standing around talking with each other. There were four adults, and a girl and guy that were mine and Lucas's age. One of the adults was a woman, and the rest were guys. I saw Krieg headed our way.

"Hello we will be showing you to your rooms," I said, walking forwards towards the group of people. One of the men stepped towards me.

"Hello I'm James, this," He said, pointing to the guy who was my age, he had short brown hair, and green eyes, "is my son Tony. And this," he pointing to the girl, she had long blond hair, and the same green eyes as the guy, "Is my daughter Tailor,"

"I'm Nickie and this is my husband Lenny," The woman said, pointing to one of the other guys.

"And I'm Tom," Said, the last guy.

"I'm Penny, this is Lucas, and that's Krieg," I said, introducing us. Krieg led the adults off to show them to their rooms. Leaving me and Lucas with Tony and Tailor. I looked at the both of them, and a chill went up my spine. I had to admit Tony was cute, but something seemed weird. I could feel a sort of tension in the air. Tailor was staring at Lucas.

"Well how about we show you to your rooms," I said.

"Sure why not," Tony replied. Tony grabbed his bag and followed me down the hall, followed by Lucas, and Tailor. We stopped by Tailor's room first. Tailor pulled Lucas to the side and asked him something. Lucas nodded his head.

"Hey I'm going to show Tailor around meet me by the moon pool in a couple of minutes," He said, to me. I watched Lucas lead Tailor down the hallway. I glared daggers at the back of Tailor's head.

"Follow me," I said, turning back around. We arrived at Tony's room a couple seconds later. Tony put his bags on the floor of his room.

"Hey would you mind giving me a tour of your beautiful ship?" Asked tony.

"It's a sub, and yes I'd be happy to give you a tour." I said. Tony walked back into the hallway, and shut his bedroom door. Well if Lucas was gonna be giving the new girl a tour, I guess I could give the new guy a tour. I lead Tony through Seaquest. We walked to the moon pool to see Darwin.

"So he can really talk?" Asked Tony.

"Well you see, this device which we call the vocorder translates all his clicks and whistle's. Lucas made it," I answered, smiling down at Darwin. I felt that tension in the air again. I looked up to see James and Nickie standing behind me. Tony, James and Nickie were all exchanging glances. Then Lucas and Tailor walked into the room.

"Oh hey guys," Lucas said, walking over to us with Tailor right behind him. I scowled. James and Nickie left leaving me, Tony, Lucas, and Tailor together. Tailor was hanging all over Lucas. I wanted to reach out and slap her. I looked over to see Tony staring at me. I shivered.

"So Lucas did you really build that Vocorder thing?" Asked Tailor, batting her eye lash's at him. I wanted to throw up.

"Yes," Lucas said, smiling at her. Ugh. I rolled my eyes.

"So when will we be arriving in Baltimore?" Asked Tony staring at me.

"We should be there by tomorrow afternoon" I said, reaching down to pet Darwin. I spent the rest of the evening with Darwin and Tony, who wouldn't leave my side. I watched as Lucas walked Tailor back to her room.

"Well seems as if my sister really likes Lucas," Tony said.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"Would you like me to walk you to your room?" Asked Tony.

"Sure why not," I replied, standing up. He followed me out into the hall. I lead him through the hall and to my room.

"Thank you. Do you know how to get to your room from here?" I asked. He nodded his head and I said goodbye, and closed my bedroom door. I sighed and plopped down on my bed. What the heck? I hate today. Lucas was all over Tailor, and Tailor was all over Lucas. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep…


	2. Christmas gift buying

We had docked in Baltimore ten minutes ago. Everybody was getting their things and heading out. I was the only one not packing. I walked out of my room, and into the hallway. The hallway was crowded with people. I felt claustrophobic. I walked down the hallway and to the moon pool. Darwin swam up to me. "Penny play," He said. I smiled.

"Not right now, maybe later," I replied, rubbing Darwin on the head.

"Everyone leaving," He stated. I nodded my head. Lucas came walking in with Tailor on his heels. I scowled. Tailor looked around the room, with a weird look on her face. Then her expression changed, and I turned my head to see what she was looking at. I saw Tony headed towards us. Gah. What is with these two?

"So what were you guys planning on doing for Christmas?" Asked Tailor looking up at Lucas.

"Well I was going to work on my paper," I replied, looking at my little desk in the corner.

"And I was gonna stay here and make sure she didn't waste her Christmas working on some stupid paper," Lucas said. I smiled. So he didn't forget his promise to spend Christmas on Seaquest with me. Tailor frowned, but just for a second.

"What were you guys gonna do?" Asked Lucas.

"Well we were actually headed on a trip, when the Seaquest found us," Tony said, walking up next to me.

"Well then why don't you guys stay here for Christmas?" Asked Nathan.

I turned around to see Nathan standing behind me.

"You know that sounds like a great idea," Said Tailor. I glared at Nathan giving him my best death glare. He gave me a funny look then turned back to Tailor.

"Yeah, I'm going to be spending my Christmas on board Seaquest as well this year. What do you think Penny?" Asked Nathan looking down at me.

I glared at him, then said through my teeth, "Yeah that would be great."

"Well then it's settled. You just gotta ask your dad," Nathan said.

"He won't mind," Tailor stated. I rolled my eyes. Just then James, Nickie, Lenny, and Tom walked in.

"Hey dad can we spend this Christmas on the Seaquest?" Tailor asked her dad. He smiled at her.

"Sure why not," He replied. I sighed. Great I get to spend Christmas with her.

"I'll be back I gotta do some shopping," I exclaimed, walking out of the room, and heading for the docking bay. I heard someone following behind me. I turned to see Tony following after me.

"Hey you mind if I come with you I still have to get my dad something?" He asked. I nodded my head, and we both walked to one of the launches. I had almost forgotten that it was snowing. I smiled as I stepped off the launch, and onto the snow covered dock.

"Man I haven't seen snow since I was 8," I mumbled, looking up at the sky…

…_Christmas was a very special thing for me and my parents. We'd lived in a small house in Baltimore my entire life. My mom was a karate instructor, and my dad was a marine biologist. They'd both taught me everything they knew. I looked out the window and watched the snow fall to the ground. I turned back to look at our Christmas tree. There were presents in front of the tree. Christmas morning. Mom and dad came into the living room with three cups of hot chocolate. "Morning Penny, ready to open your presents?" Asked mom. I nodded my head, and ran over to the tree and started opening my presents._

_ I found a small red box lying on top of one of the bigger boxes. I picked it up, and opened it. Inside was a necklace with a silver dolphin charm attached to the chain. The dolphin had blue gems for eyes. I smiled. "I love it. Thank you," I exclaimed, running over to them and giving them a hug. My dad took the necklace and put it on me. I smiled and went back to the tree. Suddenly the lights flickered. I looked over at mom and dad._

"_Probably the snow storm," Dad stated. The lights flickered again, then suddenly one of the bulbs on the tree shattered. I saw a small spark come from the shattered bulb, and suddenly the tree was on fire. I screamed, and fell backwards trying to get away from the flames. The tree tipped over on its side, and landed next to me. My dad grabbed me, and pulled me away from the tree. The flames spread across the floor, blocking the path to the kitchen (where the door was). Dad ran to the window, and opened it. Dad shoved me through the window, and I landed on the soft blanket of snow. I stood up, and looked back through the window._

"_Mom, dad," I yelled. I saw dad turn back to help mom. She was stuck on something. I watched as dad tried to help mom get free from whatever she was stuck on. But a thick cloud of smoke blocked my view of them._

"_Mom, Dad!" I yelled. I could hear the sirens of the fire trucks getting closer. I waited for mom and dad to come out of the house. I watched as the flames got closer to the window. I heard someone talking behind me. _

"_Mom, Dad," I yelled. I moved to go back into the house, but a fireman grabbed me, and held me back. I screamed for my mom and dad, but they never came out…_

…I felt a tear run down my face. I wiped it away, and continued to walk down the dock with Tony next to me. I hailed a cab, and me and Tony got into the cab. "Where to?" Asked the driver.

"The mall," I replied. I looked out the window, and watched the snow fall.

"What you thinking about?" Asked Tony.

"Nothing really," I mumbled.

"I like your necklace. Where'd you get it?" He asked, looking down at the necklace around my neck.

"My parents gave it to me several years ago," I replied. Tony nodded his head. After a couple of minutes the cab stopped in front of the mall. I paid the man, then me and Tony walked into the mall.

"So what do you have to get?" Asked Tony.

"Well I have to get something for Nathan, Lucas, and Kristin. But I'm not quite sure what exactly to get them," I said, walking towards one of the stores. The first store was a book store. I looked through the book shelves. Finally I found the book I was looking for. A Night to Rememberby Walter Lord, this was for Nathan. Then I moved on to the next store. Hm what to get Lucas and Kristin? I looked through the display cases. I saw a pocket knife sitting in one of the display cases. I looked at the price tag. Hm 20 dollars. I think Luca might like this. After he saw my pocket knife, he had been talking about getting one of his own.

"Can I help with something?" Asked a man behind the counter.

"Yeah I'd like to buy that pocket knife," I said, pointing to it. The man pulled the knife out of the display case, and handed it to me. I handed the money to the man, and he put the knife into a plastic bag. I looked through the jewelry. I found a beautiful necklace with a butterfly charm attached to it. This would be perfect for Kristin. I bought the necklace, then walked down to the food court where me and Tony were supposed to meet. About five minutes later Tony came walking towards me.

"Did you get everything?" He asked. I nodded my head, and we walked outside. We hailed a cab, and rode back to the docks. Then we got on the launch, and headed back to Seaquest. When we got back to the Seaquest I went to my room so I could wrap the presents. Again Tony walked me to my room. I smiled, and thanked him for coming with me to the mall, then went into my room. I sat down on my bed, and started wrapping the presents…


	3. The snow ball fight

I was sitting at my desk working on my paper. "So you're finally by yourself," Said Lucas walking over to me. I looked up at him.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Nothing except that you've been hanging out with Tony a lot," He stated.

"Like you've been hanging with Tailor," I replied, glaring at him.

"True, true. So where is Tony?" He asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, and said, "Where's Tailor?" Lucas thought for a second, then shrugged his shoulders. I heard someone walking towards us.

"Lucas, there you are," Tailor said, walking up to us. I sighed.

"I'll see you guys latter," I exclaimed, getting up, and walking out of the room. What to do?

"Hey Penny wait up," Tony yelled, running towards me. I stopped, and waited for Tony to catch up to me.

"Hey what's up?" He asked.

"Nothing really," I replied.

"Well I was planning on going back to the docks. It's still snowing wanna come with me?" He asked. I smiled.

"Yeah sure let's go," I said.

"Hey mind if we tag along?" Asked Tailor from behind I us. I groaned silently.

"Not at all. Come on hurry up," Tony replied. Okay so it was a good idea at first, then it turned bad. We went to the docking bay, and got on a launch.

"So what are we gonna do first?" Asked Tailor.

"Snow ball fight," I exclaimed, imaging throwing a snow ball in her face.

"Sounds like fun," Lucas said.

"I pick Penny to be on my team," Tony exclaimed, putting his arm around my shoulder. I blushed slightly, and smiled. Lucas frowned for a second. When we got to the docks we split up into our teams of two, and started making snow forts. When we were done making our snow forts we made an arsenal of snow balls.

"You guys ready yet," I yelled, looking over our snow fort at Lucas and Tailor.

"Yupp we're ready," Lucas said.

"Well then let the snow ball fight begin!" I yelled, tossing the first snow ball at Lucas. It hit him square in the face. I laughed, and grabbed another snow ball tossing it at Tailor. It hit her in the stomach as she tried to duck behind their snow fort. This reminded me of that time me, my parents, and my best friend had a snow ball fight…

…_I tossed the first snow ball at my dad. It hit him right in his face. Then my mom threw a snow ball at me. I ducked behind the snow fort, and the snow ball sailed over my head. My friend Angel threw a snow ball. I picked up a snow ball, and threw it over the wall of our snow fort. "You'll never win; mine as well give up now," I yelled. _

"_Never," Dad yelled. Me and Angel threw dozens of snow balls before mom and dad finally gave up. I stood up, and did my famous victory dance…_

…The snow ball fight went on for over an hour. "Give up, and you won't get hurt," I yelled, aiming another snow ball at Tailor and Lucas.

"Okay, okay, we surrender," Lucas yelled, holding his hands up. I smiled.

"Yes we won!" I exclaimed, jumping up, and doing a little victory dance. Tony smiled. I heard Lucas laughing. I stopped dancing, and looked over at Lucas. He was laughing, and I couldn't help but laugh with him. Tailor scowled at me, but I didn't pay any attention to her.

"We better get back before Nathan and Kristin start to worry about us," I said. We all got back on the launch and headed back to Seaquest. When we got back I decided to go to my room, and listen to music.

"I'll see you guys later," I said.

"Where you going?" Asked Tony.

"My room," I replied, walking away. I passed by the moon pool room, and saw James, Nickie, Lenny, and Tom whispering to each other. A cold chill ran down my spine.

"Hey guys," I said, walking past them.

"Hello," James said, smiling at me. I continued to my room. When I was in my room I grabbed my I-pod, and sat down on my bed. I put my headphones in, and turned on Bring me to my life by Evanescence. I started singing along with the song.

_How can you see into my eyes like open doors?  
>Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb<br>Without a soul my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold  
>until you find it there and lead it back home<em>

_(Wake me up)  
>Wake me up inside<br>(I can't wake up)  
>Wake me up inside<br>(Save me)  
>call my name and save me from the dark<br>(Wake me up)  
>bid my blood to run<br>(I can't wake up)  
>before I come undone<br>(Save me)  
>save me from the nothing I've become<em>

_now that I know what I'm without  
>you can't just leave me<br>breathe into me and make me real  
>bring me to life<em>

_(Wake me up)  
>Wake me up inside<br>(I can't wake up)  
>Wake me up inside<br>(Save me)  
>call my name and save me from the dark<br>(Wake me up)  
>bid my blood to run<br>(I can't wake up)  
>before I come undone<br>(Save me)  
>save me from the nothing I've become<em>

_Bring me to life  
>(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)<br>Bring me to life_

_frozen inside without your touch  
>Without your love, darling<br>only you are the life among the dead_

_all this time I can't believe I couldn't see  
>kept in the dark but you were there in front of me<br>I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems  
>got to open my eyes to everything<br>Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul  
>don't let me die here<br>there must be something more  
>bring me to life<br>_

"Nice singing," Lucas exclaimed. I sat up pulling the headphone out of my ear.

"Oh hey what's up?" I asked.

"Just wanted to come see if you were okay. You just disappeared to your room after the snow ball fight," He replied.

"I'm fine just a little worn out from the snow ball fight. I forgot how much energy it took to have a snow ball fight," I said, putting my I-pod down on my night stand.

"No kidding. But snow ball fights are fun," He said. I nodded my head.

"Well I think I'm going to turn in for the night. See ya tomorrow," I mumbled.

"See ya," Lucas said, walking out of the room, and shutting the door behind him. I laid down, and pulled the covers over me and fell asleep…


	4. Take over

…There were only two more days till Christmas. I couldn't wait to give everybody their gifts. I looked over at the clock, 9:10 am. I sighed, and got up out of my bed. I got changed, then headed down to the moon pool. It was still early so Nathan, Lucas, Kristin, and the others probably weren't up yet. I walked up to the moon pool, and put my hand in the water. But I didn't see Darwin. Hm. "So when are we gonna do this?" I heard Tailor say, from outside the room. I moved silently to the door, and listened to what they were saying.

"Soon. Now that it's just Penny, Lucas, Nathan, and Kristin here it should be easy to take over the Seaquest," James replied.

"No kidding. They don't even know what's going on. Tailor you're doing great keeping Lucas distracted," Nickie stated.

"Thanks. He is kind of cute so it was easy to pretend to like him," Tailor said.

"You know it's not nice to listen in on peoples conversations," Tony said from behind me. I turned to see Tony pointing a gun at me. I sighed. Well this is turning out to be a bad day.

"Look who I found," Tony exclaimed, shoving me out of the room. James frowned.

"You were supposed to be watching her," He stated.

"I was," Tony replied, glaring at James.

"Doesn't look that way to me," Mumbled Tailor.

"So what are we supposed to do with her? She knows what we were planning," Nickie said. James thought for a second.

"Well we can't have her giving us away. Tie her up. We'll find some place to put her," James replied. I scowled at him. Tony grabbed my arms, and tied them behind my back.

"I remember seeing a storage room when Lucas took me on a tour of this place. No one will be going near there since it's just us, her, Lucas, Nathan, and Kristin," Tailor stated.

"That should work. And you," James said, pointing at Tony, "Are going to watch her, and make sure she doesn't escape." Tony nodded his head. They dragged me through the hallway, and to the storage room. Tony shoved me into the room. He walked in behind me, and James shut the door. Tony sat down in front of the door.

"Why exactly do you guys want the Seaquest?" I asked.

"Because we have someone who is willing to pay use a lot of money for the Seaquest," Tony explained. I sighed and sat down. Time to figure out a way to escape. If only Tony would leave, then I could get my knife out my boot, and cut these ropes off…

Lucas's P.O.V.

I walked over to the moon pool. Darwin came swimming up to me. "Hello Lucas," Darwin said.

"Hello Darwin. Have you seen Penny?" I asked, looking around the room. Darwin shook his head.

"No Penny," He said. I sighed. Tailor walked in.

"Hey Lucas what's up?" She asked.

"Do you know where Penny is?" I asked.

"Um she and Tony went to the docks. They said they wanted to make snow men, and snow angels," Tailor replied. I sighed. Why was she spending so much time with him? Then again I was spending a lot of time with Tailor.

"You wanna go to the docks, with them?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Na, I'd rather stay here today," She said, smiling at me. I sighed again.

"Well what do you wanna do then?" I asked.

"We can play with Darwin," She said.

"Lucas play. Tailor play," Darwin said, nodding his head up and down. I laughed.

"Seems he like that idea," I said. Darwin nodded his head.

"All right then," I mumbled, getting up. We changed into a pair of swim suits, and jumped into the moon pool.

"Tag. Tag," Darwin said, touching me with his nose, then swam off. I smiled, and reached over to tag Tailor, but she swam away from me.

"Oh no you don't. You're not tagging me," She exclaimed, following Darwin. I swam after them, finally managing to tag Tailor. I swam back to the moon pool. I could see James, and Nickie standing in the room. Tailor swam in behind me. When she saw her dad, and Nickie she stopped smiling, and swam over to them. Her dad whispered something in her ear and she nodded her head. Then she swam back over to me.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Oh my dad's planning a surprise for my brother, because his birthday is actually on Christmas," She explained.

"That has to be awesome to have your birthday on Christmas," I said.

"Yeah. He loves it. Oh yeah and tag," She said, touching my shoulder then swimming off…

Penny's P.O.V.

…It had been over three hours since I'd been locked in here with Tony. At that moment James came into the room. "Everything's set. You ready?" He asked Tony. Tony nodded his head.

"Good. Come on," He said, walking out of the room. Tony stood up.

"Hurry up we don't have all day," James shouted.

Lucas's P.O.V.

We had just gotten out of the moon pool. I grabbed a towel, and dried off. "That was fun," Tailor said, grabbing a towel. I nodded my head. Suddenly the lights went off. I looked around me.

"What the heck?" I mumbled, walking out of the room. I walked down the hallway towards the bridge. I walked into the bridge, and up to one of the consoles. I pulled the panel off the console.

"What the heck?" Someone cut the wire.

"What's wrong?" Asked Tailor.

"Someone cut the wires. Give me a couple minutes to fix it," I replied.

"You can fix that in a couple minutes?" Tailor asked. I nodded my head. I heard Tailor move closer to me. Then I felt something hit me in the back of the head. My vision got blurry, and I blacked out.

Penny's P.O.V.

I was sitting on the floor of the storage closet. I had almost gotten to the pocket knife in my boot, when I heard someone outside the door. I sat back against the shelf behind me, and watched the door open. James came in carrying Lucas. Tailor was behind him. James set Lucas down on the floor in front of me. His hands were tied behind his back, and he was unconscious. "What did you do to him?" I yelled.

"Oh please. I didn't hit him that hard," Tailor said. I scowled at her. They walked out of the room, and shut the door behind them. I moved over to Lucas and nudged him with my foot.

"Lucas wake up," I said, nudging him again. I sighed.

"Don't make me kick you," I shouted, nudging him a little harder. He sat up and looked around him. Then he looked at me.

"What the… where are we?" He asked.

"The storage closet," I replied. Lucas pulled at the ropes around his wrists.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Well I'm not sure what happened to you, but I found out that James, Tailor, Tony, Nickie, Lenny, and Tom are trying to steal the Seaquest. They have someone who's willing to buy the Seaquest from them. So they locked me in here," I explained, pulling at the ropes around my wrists.

"Do you know how they were planning on stealing the Seaquest?" Asked Lucas. I shook my head.

"But it's going to be a whole lot easier since it's only you, me, Nathan, and Kristin onboard," I mumbled, trying to wriggle my hands under my butt.

"Well the lights went off a couple of minutes ago… What are you doing?" He asked, looking at me funny.

"I'm trying to get my hands in front of me," I said, trying to wriggle my hands under my butt once again, but for some reason I couldn't get them under my butt. I sighed, and sat back.

"This has been the longest day ever," I exclaimed, closing my eyes for a second.

"How long have you been in here?" Lucas asked.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"3:30," He said.

"Well I've been here since sometime around 9, so about 7 hours," I stated.

"Oh man. Tailor said you and Tony were out at the docks," Lucas said. I laughed.

"No I've been stuck in here all day," I said, looking over at him. Suddenly the door opened. James, Tony, and Tailor walked in. They walked over to Lucas.

"You're going to help us get into the computer," James stated. Lucas shook his head.

"No. I will not help you," He replied, glaring at him. James scowled.

"You will help me, or I will kill her," James said, pointing his gun at me. Lucas's face went pale.

"No! Don't help them Lucas," I exclaimed. James hit me in the face with the gun. I hit the shelf, with a soft thud. Ouch, damn that hurt!

"All right fine I'll help you," Lucas said, standing up. Tony walked over, and grabbed me by my arm. He yanked me up off the floor, and pulled me out the supply closets. James, Lucas, and Tailor followed after us…


	5. Kidnapped

…I watched as Lucas typed something into the computer. I hate this. Where the hell is Nathan? "It's gonna take some time," Lucas exclaimed.

"Better not take too long," James replied. I had to think of a way for us to get out of here.

"I'm almost done," Lucas said. I looked around the room. I saw Darwin in the small tube behind me. I smiled. The lid to the tub thing was open. Lucas looked over at me. I looked over at the tube thing. I saw a small smirk come across his face, before he turned back to the computer. He typed something into the computer. Suddenly an alarm went off.

"What did you do?" James yelled, grabbing Lucas by his shirt.

"Nothing I was trying to give you control of the ship," He replied.

"Turn that alarm off," James shouted, shoving Lucas back into the seat. Lucas typed something into the computer.

"I can't I've been locked out of the computer," He said. James scowled. He grabbed Lucas and flung him over to where I was sitting. He fell on the floor next to me.

"I warned you. All you had to do was help me get control of this ship. But it seems you have to learn a lesson," James said, walking over to us. He aimed the gun at me. I smiled, and stood up. I glanced down at Lucas. Then I looked back up at James. Just as he was about to fire I charged forwards, and rammed into him. We stumbled backwards, and I fell on top of him.

"Lucas go," I yelled.

"But…"

"GO," I yelled. Lucas jumped up, and into the tube. He grabbed hold of Darwin's fin, and Darwin swam away. James shoved me off of him, then stood up.

"Damn it," James said.

"Now what do we do?" Tony asked. James thought for a second.

"There's nothing we can do but run," James replied. I smiled.

"They'll never let you off this sub," I stated. James yanked me up off the floor.

"Oh yes they will. And you're our ticket off this sub. He pulled me out of the bridge and down the hall, with Tony, and Tailor right behind us. We met up with Nickie, Lenny, and Tom.

"What happened?" Nickie asked.

"That boy set off an alarm," James explained, continuing down the hall.

"So what we just give up?" Lenny asked.

"We've been locked out of the computer, and Lucas escaped," James shouted. We had reached the launch bay.

"Stop right where you are," Nathan said. Ford was standing next to him, and both had their weapons pointed at the group. But they couldn't see me, because Tony and Tailor were standing in front of me. James stepped in front of Tony, and Tailor pulling me with him.

"We're going to leave, and don't try to stop us," James said, holding the gun to my head.

"Go," James shouted, looking back at the group behind us for a second. Then he started walking backwards toward one of the launches dragging me with him. I watched the door to the launch close. When it was closed James shoved me to the side, and sat down in one of the chairs. The launch took off.

"So what do we do with her?" Nickie asked.

"I'm sure Nathan, and the rest of the crew would pay, a good bit of money to get her back," James replied. Nickie smiled, and sat down in one of the other chairs. I wiggled my arms behind my back, trying to loosen the ropes. But it wasn't working. I sighed, and sat back…

Lucas's P.O.V.

"How could you let them get away?" I yelled.

"Lucas there was nothing we could have done. Don't worry we'll get her back," Nathan said. Ford was standing next to Nathan. Ford had come back to the Seaquest about an hour ago, he wanted to come, and wish us all a merry Christmas. I sighed, and walked to my room. I flopped down on my bed. We had left port several minutes ago. We were tracking the launch. But it was going to take some time to find them…

{Several hours later}

"Lucas come up to the bridge," Nathan ordered over the PAL. I got up and ran to the bridge.

"What is it?" I asked. Nathan pointed to the screen. There was an incoming transmission. I sat down in front of a computer and typed something. I nodded my head. Nathan pressed a button, and James appeared on the screen. I started tracking the signal, hiding behind the computer so that James didn't know what I was doing.

"Hello Nathan," James said.

"What do you want?" Asked Nathan.

"Well you guys ruined my plan. I would have made some good money, selling the Seaquest. But I figured, you guys would be willing to make a deal with us to get you're crew member back," James said. I scowled. I wanted to punch the man. I was almost finished tracking them.

"what kind of deal?" Nathan asked.

"You guys will get Penny back, in return I want 30,000 thousand dollars, half the price I would of gotten for the Seaquest," James replied. The man's insane, if he thinks the UEO would give him any money. Ha found them. I looked over at Ford who was looking at me. I smiled, and nodded my head. Ford looked over at Nathan.

"Fine, but we'll need some time to get that much money," Nathan said, pressing a button. James image flashed off the screen.

"I found them, their at an abandoned science station ten miles from here," I stated.

"Good work Lucas." Nathan said. I typed the coordinates into the computer…

…We had arrived at the abandoned science lab three minutes ago. Nathan and Ford were getting ready to take a launch over to the station. "But I want to help," I said, following Nathan, and Ford to the launch.

"No. We'll get her back don't worry. Just stay here with Kristin," Nathan replied. I sighed and watched Nathan, and Ford take off in the launch…


	6. Christmas kiss

…I had finally managed to wiggle my arms under my butt. I brought my arms forward under my knees, and pulled my arms out from underneath my legs. Yes success! I reached down, and pulled the pocket knife out of my boot. I started cutting through the ropes. After a couple seconds I'd cut through the ropes. Finally. I put the knife back in my boot, and walked over to the door. James had put me in a small room, like the storage closet on the Seaquest. Okay now's the time to see if I can pick a lock. I grabbed the bobbie pin thing out of my hair, and put it in the lock. I'd picked several locks a couple years ago, so this should be easy. I turned the pin, and heard the faint click of the lock. YES! I opened the door, and looked around to make sure no one was standing outside the door, then I took off running.

I had no idea where I was going. I had memorized the way we'd gone coming in, but now I couldn't remember which way to go. I looked around the hallway. Ah forget it, I'm winging it. I turned to the right, checking to see if there was anyone there first. I sighed, man this is going to take forever. I turned a corner, and ran straight into someone. I fell back onto the ground. Crap! I looked up to see Nathan, and Ford standing in front of me. "Oh my god, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," I exclaimed, jumping up, and wrapping my arms around both of them.

"We're happy to see you too," Nathan replied. I pulled away from them.

"So what are we going to do about James, and the rest of them?" I asked.

"We're going to arrest them," Nathan stated.

"Yeah, but there's three of us, and six of them," I said.

"Don't worry, we've got that covered," Ford said, showing me small device.

"See this thing is heat seeking. We can tell if how many people are in each room. It seems Tony, and Tailor are by themselves, in a room that way," Ford said, pointing to the right, "James, and Tom are in a room that way," he pointed to the left, "And we've already taking care of Nickie, and Lenny." I smiled.

"I think I'll take care of Tony, and Tailor," I said.

"Not by yourself you're not," Nathan stated.

"What, why?" I asked.

"Well first off because you don't have a weapon," Ford replied.

"True, true," I said.

"Here," Nathan said, handing me a Taser. I took it from him, and gave him a funny look.

"A Taser? What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked.

"Just take it," Nathan said. I shrugged my shoulders, and followed Ford down the hall to Tony, and Tailor's room.

"This one," Ford whispered, stopping in front of a door. He opened the door, and walked into the room. I followed him into the room. Tony and Tailor were asleep on their beds. Ford pointed his gun at them, and I pointed my… Taser at them.

"Get up," Ford yelled. Tony and Tailor sat up, and looked around the room. Tony's eyes went wide at the sight of us.

"What the heck? How did you escape?" He asked, standing up.

"Well, when you kidnap someone you really should check to see if they have a pocket knife, before locking them in a room," I said. Tony scowled at me.

"Come on lets go," Ford said. Tony and Tailor followed us back to the launch. When we got on the launch Nathan was waiting there with James, and Tom. I could see Nickie, and Lenny tied up in the corner…

{Back at Seaquest}

I stepped off the launch, to see that the Seaquest was cover in Christmas decorations. Kristin ran over, and gave me a hug. "We're so glad you're safe," She said.

"So am I," I said, smiling.

"So uh who put up all the decorations?" I asked.

"We did. Just for you, and to keep us busy while we waited for you guys to get back," Lucas replied.

"It's nice, but uh whose gonna be the one to take all this down?" I asked. Kristin, and Lucas looked back, and forth between each other.

"You know we didn't think about that," Kristin mumbled.

"Not it," I said, running to the science lab were the moon pool was.

"Not it," Lucas yelled, following after me. We walked up to the moon pool, and sat down. I looked up at the clock.

"Hey it's Christmas," I exclaimed, pointing up at the clock, which said 12:05. Lucas smiled. I saw Darwin swim up to one side of the pool, and grab a metal pole off the side of the pool. Then he swam over to us, and held the end of the pole over mine, and Lucas's heads. I looked up at the pole. There was a green plant attached to the end of it.

"Is that… mistletoe?" I asked. Darwin nodded his head. I laughed.

"I think he wants us to kiss," Lucas said. Darwin nodded his head again. This time me, and Lucas both laughed. I smiled at Lucas.

"Well it is mistletoe," I said, sheepishly. Lucas smiled. I leaned closer to Lucas, and we kissed…


	7. drifting

It has been a week since Lucas and I kissed. Nathan, Ford, Lucas, Kristin, Krieg, Hitchcock, and I were all in an underwater hotel. The place had just been built, and we were there to help open it. We were on a special tour.

"And these are our tour pods. They go through the entire hotel, through water tubes, and they're not only for tours. They are also transport pods that go from here to the entrance of the hotel," the owner of the building said, opening one of the pods to show us the inside.

I looked inside. The pod was tiny, and had a small bench seat against the back wall of the pod. It had three round windows. There was a bar attached to the ceiling for one to hold in case one wanted to stand up. There was also a set of bars under the bench for luggage.

"It's tiny," I pointed out.

"Well, it's meant to fit two to three people," said another man. He was the owner's business partner.

"Right now, we're still working out a few problems, but by tomorrow, it should be fixed, and then, I have a few people helping me take the pods on a test drive," the owner explained.

"What would happen if the pod broke free of the tubes?" I asked.

"Ah, well the only way that could happen is if someone rigged it to go at a very high speed. That's the only way the pod could break free of the tube," said the owner.

"And if that _were_ to happen?" I asked.

"Well, the pod would drift until someone came and got it," the owner replied.

I nodded my head.

"Now, on with the tour," he continued.

The tour lasted for hours. By the time it was over, it was almost time for dinner. We were going to be here for New Year's Eve, and I was planning on Lucas kissing me at midnight. We continued on to view the rooms.

"Your rooms are here; you can continue on if you'd like, or you can get settled in your rooms," he said.

I decided to get settled in my room, and so did Lucas. When I was done putting my bags in the room, I walked out into the hallway. I walked over to Lucas's room and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Lucas said, opening the door.

"Want to go on our own private tour?" I asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Sure. After you," he replied, walking out of his room and shutting the door.

"Man, I swear if I had to listen to him drone on for another minute I would have gone nuts," I said, causing Lucas to laugh.

"I know what you mean," he agreed.

We walked down the hallway back towards the tour pods. There were two security guards standing at the end of the hallway, and two people were working on two of the pods. The owner's business partner was talking with the security guards. The business partner looked up at us.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be with the tour group," he said.

"Ah well, the tour was just a little boring," I said.

"Don't I know it," he replied, rolling his eyes. I looked over at the two people working on the pods.

"Man, that's a lot of wires," I observed, pointing at the wires that the men were working on.

There was a small panel off to the side of the wires. One of the men typed something into the little panel. I couldn't tell what he was typing though.

"Hey, wait a minute. What the heck are you guys doing?" Lucas asked.

"We're fixing it," the man explained.

"No, the owner showed me the plans for this thing. And that is _not _fixing it," Lucas countered.

"He showed you the plans?" I asked.

"Well, the cap told him about my work on the vocoder, so the owner thought I might be able to help fix the problem with the pods," he explained.

The man standing in front of us was scowling as Lucas did so.

"And when did he show you? He took us all on the tour of this place as soon as we arrived," I wondered.

"Some time before we got here," Lucas said.

I looked back at the owner's business partner. I saw the two security guards standing next to him.

"So what are you guys doing?" Lucas asked.

"I think it's time you two went back to your rooms," he said.

Lucas looked back over at the men working on the pods.

"_You're_ the problem. You've been messing with the pods so they won't work." I accused, glaring at the man standing in front of me. He scowled at me. One of the guards grabbed Lucas, and the other tried to grab me. I ducked away from him and punched him in the face. He stumbled back a step. I saw blood coming out of his nose. Then, something metal hit the back of my head, and I blacked out…

Sometime later, I opened my eyes, just as I was flung off whatever I was lying on. I hit the floor, and it felt like my left arm had just been yanked out of its socket. I yelped in pain.

"Penny, you okay?" Lucas asked.

I looked up at him. He was cuffed to a metal bar. I looked around me. We were in one of the pods.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, looking down at my arms. I'd been cuffed to the metal bars under the bench.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, after they knocked you out, they cuffed us inside here, then launched the pod," he said, pulling at the cuffs around his wrist.

"And the jolt that sent me flying off the seat?" I asked, also pulling at the cuffs around my wrists.

"Us breaking through the tubes," Lucas replied.

I looked up at him. "You mean we're out in open water?" I asked.

Lucas nodded his head, causing me to sigh.

"Would this be a bad time to mention that I'm claustrophobic?" I asked.

Lucas looked over at me. "You're claustrophobic?" he asked

I nodded my head.

"Wait a minute; I got that pocket knife you gave me for Christmas," Lucas suddenly remembered, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the pocket knife, "I could use it to unscrew the bolts on the bar."

"That could work," I said thoughtfully. If only I could reach my knife. I sighed; there was no way I could reach my pocket knife. I'd just have to wait for Lucas to get free…


	8. missing

**Bridger's P.O.V.**

I was starting to think that Penny, and Lucas had the right idea. It had been an hour, and the tour still wasn't over. "I think I'll turn in for the night," I said, turning around to go back to my room.

"Me too; it's getting late," Kristin agreed. Kristin and I walked back to the rooms.

"I'm going to check in on the kids," Kristin informed, walking over to Penny's door and knocking on it. Kristin stood there for a minute. Then, she knocked again. Kristin sighed then turned towards me. I handed her the spare key cards to Penny, and Lucas's room. A couple seconds later, she walked back out.

"Uh, she's not in there," she said, "but, maybe she's with Lucas." She walked over to Lucas's door and knocked. Again, there was no answer. She opened the door, and walked into the room, and a second later she rushed back out again.

"He's not in there either," Kristin exclaimed, now frantic.

"Don't worry; they're probably in the cafeteria getting something to eat," I said. Kristin nodded her head.

"You're probably right," she responded, calming down. "I was just being silly."

I smiled and gave her a hug. Then, I walked into my room and shut the door. I walked over to my bed and lay down. I closed my eyes and fell asleep…

…I woke up to someone banging on my door. I got up and opened the door to see Kristin standing there.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The owner said one of the pods was launched sometime last night and broke free of the tubes. He didn't find out until a few minutes ago because the pods aren't hooked up to the alert system yet since they're not supposed to be in use. And, Lucas and Penny are still missing," Kristin exclaimed frantically once again.

"Give me a second to change," I said, shutting the door. I quickly changed, then walked out into the hall. I followed Kristin to a control room near the hotel entrance. Once there, we entered.

"When did the pod launch?" I asked.

"Sometime after Lucas and Penny said they were turning in for the night," the owner replied. I looked down at my watch.

"That was four hours ago," I said.

"How far could the pod have drifted since then?" Kristin asked.

"It depends on how fast the pod was going. But the pod wasn't built to go out into open water. If we don't find them soon, the pod could start filling up with water," the owner informed…


	9. Freaking out

**Penny's P.O.V.**

It had been over five hours since Lucas and I had been trapped in this tiny pod. I felt as if my chest was tightening, and I could barely breathe. "I've almost got this; two more bolts, then I'm free," Lucas said. I nodded my head, sighed, and pulled at the cuffs around my wrists. I hate this, this pod too small, and my shoulder hurt from being flung off the bench. Suddenly, I heard a very loud creaking sound. I looked around me, then up at Lucas, who was looking down at me.

"Oh, crap. Is that what I think it is?" I asked, looking out the window.

"Oh, I hope not," Lucas replied, working on the bolts faster. I heard another creaking. This pod is too small; it shouldn't be going out this far into the ocean. The pod creaked several times in one minute.

"This is not good," I mumbled, feeling as if the room was closing in on me. I looked up at Lucas; he was two bolts away from being free, but the bolt he was working on wouldn't budge.

"Come on, dang it," he mumbled angrily. Suddenly, a bolt flew off the door. I ducked my head to keep from being hit by it.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Lucas asked. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, but, uh, could you try and hurry up just a bit, please, 'cause I'm freakin' out over here," I said, pulling at the cuffs. Another bolt flew off the door, then suddenly, water started coming in through the holes in the door made by the missing bolts.

"Oh, man, it just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" I said, yanking furiously at my cuffs.

"Penny, stop; you're going to hurt yourself," Lucas yelled. I looked up at him. He was working quickly at the bolt, trying to loosen it. I heard another creak ,then the glass in the windows started to crack. Water started leaking in through the cracks. I could feel water on my feet.

"Got it, one more to go," Lucas said, smiling at me. I managed to give him a weak smile in return.

"Wait, what are we supposed to do once we're free? It's not like we can steer this thing back to the hotel," I reasoned.

"I don't know, but at least being able to move around freely is better than being cuffed to a metal bar," he said. I nodded my head in agreement. I couldn't help but feel as if I was losing it. There was nothing I could do to help Lucas, and it was driving me insane.

"Almost got it, just a few more seconds," Lucas mumbled, working at the bolt. I was now sitting in a small puddle of water. Looking at the cracks in the windows and the door, I'm guessing we'll be completely flooded in an hour or two. I heard another louder creak. Suddenly, the pod lurched to the side, sending me flying towards Lucas. My arm was practically wrenched out of the socket.

"Ow! Holy crap! What the heck was that?" I asked, sitting up.

"I think we hit something," Lucas said, looking out the window. I looked up at him. He had managed to hold onto his pocket knife, but I could see a little blood running down his finger.

"Uh, Lucas, you cut your finger," I sated. He looked down at his finger.

"It's nothing, I'll be fine," he replied, turning back to work on unscrewing the bolt. I yanked once more at the cuffs around my wrists. I could see a red line forming around my wrist. I looked back up at Lucas. He twisted the bolt one more time, and it fell to the floor.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. He slid his cuffs off of the metal pole. Then, he bent down next to me and started working on the bolts on the metal bar that I was cuffed to.

"And here we go again," he said jokingly. He smiled at me, and I gave him a small smile back…


	10. Found

**Nathan's P.O.V.-back on **_**seaQuest**_

It had been almost an hour and a half since we found out that Lucas and Penny were missing. Knowing we had to get back to _seaQuest_ since our equipment would aid us better for our search, we quickly boarded launches. Once there, we got straight to work. We had already gone through a few square miles away from the hotel and found nothing. How far could that pod have traveled in five and a half hours? "Still nothing," Hitchcock said, looking at her monitor. I walked over to the tube where Darwin was staring at me.

"Darwin, head down to the moon pool; I'll meet you there in a minute," I said. Darwin nodded his head, and swam off. I headed down to the moon pool, where Darwin was waiting for me.

"Darwin, Lucas and Penny are missing; what I want you to do is swim out and try to find the pod that they're in," I explained.

"Darwin find Lucas; Darwin find Penny," he said, nodding his head up and down. I watched as two scientists put Darwin's 'scuba gear' on. Then, Darwin swam off. I sighed and walked back to the bridge. I swear, when I find Lucas and Penny, I'm going to kill the both of them. They knew those pods weren't working right, and they still decided to take one out for a spin. What was I going to do with those two?

"Captain, the owner of the hotel wants to talk with you," Ford said as I walked in. I turned towards the screen to see the owner of the hotel staring at me.

"I checked the surveillance videos, and at the time that the pod was launched, the camera wasn't working," he said.

"Of course," I mumbled, "All right, keep me informed on anything you find," I replied. He nodded his head, and the screen went black. I sat down and put my head in my hands. There was really nothing more I could do for now. Everyone was working hard, trying to find them. I just had to hope that we'd find them before it was too late…

**Penny's P.O.V.**

Lucas had gotten one of the bolts unscrewed and was working on the second one. All I could do was sit here and watch him try to free me. I sighed. I was now sitting in a medium-sized puddle that was getting bigger by the second. And as the water was getting higher, the smaller the pod seemed to get. I heard another creak and looked up at the window. I could see the cracks moving down the window. "Almost got this one unscrewed," Lucas assured, noticing my worried look on my face. I nodded my head. Then I heard a tap at the window. I looked up at the window to see Darwin looking at me.

"Darwin!" I yelled, trying to stand. Lucas turned to the window and did a hand sign to Darwin. Darwin nodded his head and swam off.

"At least now we know that _seaQuest_ knows where we are. Won't be long now till we're back there," Lucas promised, smiling at me. I smiled back. But our happiness was short lived. Suddenly, two more bolts popped off the door, and I could see that the door was almost falling off. Water started pouring into the pod. Lucas turned back towards me, and started working even faster on unscrewing the bolts. He got the second one unscrewed, then moved on to the next one. The pod was filling up with water, and fast. By the time Lucas got the third bolt unscrewed the water was up to my waist. I started yanking at the cuffs. Lucas grabbed my arms and looked me in the eyes.

"Calm down; I'm going to get you free," he reassured me. I nodded my head, and Lucas went back to working on the bolt. Lucas was having a bit of trouble unscrewing the bolt, seeing as it was now under water. I was getting more anxious by every passing second, but I trusted Lucas, and I know he'd get me free. What I'm more worried about is that_ seaQuest_ might not get here in time. The water was getting higher and higher, an inch every minute.

"Got it!" Lucas exclaimed. I slid the cuffs off the bar and hugged Lucas. He hugged me back.

"Thanks," I said.

"It was nothing," he said, putting his knife in his pocket. I smiled.

"Now, we wait for _seaQuest_," I grumbled. Now that I was standing, the water only came up to my knee. I heard another creak, then suddenly, the glass shattered and water came pouring in.

"Of course," I said, throwing my hands up in the air. The force of the water almost made me fall over. Lucas grabbed me by the arm. The pod was filling up fast, and the room seemed to be getting smaller. Within two minutes, the water was up to my neck. Lucas had wrapped his arms around me. The water was cold, and I couldn't stop shaking. Lucas gave me a weak smile, but I was too cold to really give him a smile back. Lucas bent his head down a bit and kissed me just as the water reached the top of the pod…

**Several minutes earlier on **_**seaQuest**_, Nathan's P.O.V.

I stood up as Darwin swam through the tube in the bridge. "Lucas, Penny; pod leaking, need help," Darwin said, shaking his head back and forth.

"Where?" I asked.

"Few miles, west," Darwin replied.

"Got it; heading west," Tim confirmed. "Let's just hope we find them in time."

"Get the hotel owner on the line; I want to let him know that we know where they are," I said to Tim. Tim nodded his head. I looked at the screen.

"Bridger, everything okay? Have you found them yet?" the owner asked. I nodded my head.

"We know where they are, and we're on our way to pick them up now," I said.

"That's good to hear. I hope you don't mind if I send my business partner down there to take a look at the pod when you find it. He should be there by now," the man said.

"I know; he got here a minute ago," I answered. The man nodded his head.

"Sir, we found them," Tim said, looking up at me.

"Got to go," I said, nodding to Commander Ford to cut the connection. The screen went black.

"All right; let's get that pod," I said, sitting down in my chair…

…I ran down to the docking bay. We'd managed to clamp on to the pod. Ford, Kristin, and the owner's business partner were standing behind me. A group of men pulled open the lid to the pod. The pod was completely filled with water. Crap. I reached down into the cold water, trying to find Lucas or Penny. I looked down into the water. I could just barely see Penny and Lucas lying on the floor of the pod below the water. I jumped into the pod, being careful not to kick either one in the face. I grabbed Penny by her arm, and pulled her up above the water. I handed her to Ford, then ducked back under the water and grabbed Lucas. Again, Ford helped me pull Lucas out of the pod. Then, I climbed out, and the two men closed the lid to the pod. Kristin was doing CPR on Penny, and one of the nurses was doing the same to Lucas. I looked at Lucas, a set of handcuffs hanging off of one of his wrists.

I looked over at Penny. Her wrists were cuffed as well. "Someone put them in that pod," I exclaimed.

"Huh?" Ford said, handing me a towel.

"Look they've got cuffs on their hands," I said, angrily pointing at their hands. Suddenly, Penny started coughing up water, and a few seconds later so was Lucas. When Kristin was sure they were both breathing properly, she had them taken to the med bay.

"Are they okay?" I asked. Kristin lifted one of Penny's eyelids up, and shone a light in her eye.

"They're probably in shock. There's a chance that they could have a bit of hypothermia. That water was very cold," she said, moving to Lucas to shine the light in his eye. They both were unconscious, and Kristin had a blanket wrapped around both of them. I nodded my head.

"Time for me to find out who put them in that pod," I said, walking to the bridge.

"Get me the owner of the hotel," I said. Tim typed something on his keyboard.

"Tell me you found them," the owner said.

"We did, but it looks as if they didn't go into that pod willingly," I replied.

"I hope you don't think_ I_ have anything to do with this," he said…


	11. New year's eve

**Penny's P.O.V.**

"_I'll be back in a couple of minute; would you stay with them?" a voice asked. Kristin… it was Kristin._

"_Yeah, sure; no problem," another voice said. I recognize that voice, but I can't put a name to the voice. I thought for a second. Wait a minute…no…no, no, no, no. _

My eyes flew open, and I saw the hotel owner's business partner. I tried to call out for help, but I could talk. My throat, ironically, was completely dry, and it hurt as well. I could barely move. He pulled a syringe out of his pocket. "Don't worry; it won't hurt. You'll just fall asleep," he explained, putting the syringe in my arm. When he was done, he turned and started walking towards Lucas.

"No," I moaned quietly. I rolled over and toppled to the floor, landing on my hands and knees. The man paid no attention to me and pulled out another syringe. I managed to get to my feet, and with what little energy I had left, I charged at the man and tackled him. As we fell to the ground we knocked over a stand that had some medical equipment on it. The stand and its contents hit the ground with a crash. Upon hearing the commotion, Kristin and Commander Ford came running into the room.

"What's going on in here?" Kristin yelled.

"I tried to stop her from getting up, but she wouldn't listen," the man said. I looked down at the syringe in his hand.

"No," I countered hoarsely. "It's… him… he… put…" My vision was getting blurry. I tried to stand, but I couldn't move.

"Penny, what's wrong?" Kristin asked, bending down next to me.

"What's this?" Ford asked, picking up an empty and broken syringe that had had rolled under my bed.

"Give that to me," Kristin demanded, holding her hand out. She looked at it, then up at the man.

"Just what do you think you were doing?" she questioned. Ford had pulled his gun out and had it pointed at the man. I sat back on the floor. My eyes were getting heavy, and I was feeling very tired. The man tossed the other syringe onto the ground, shattering it and spilling its contents on the floor.

"Don't worry, Penny, you're going to be fine," Kristin assured me. I nodded my head. Whatever that stuff was, it was pretty strong.

"We're going to need to get this stuff out of her system. Help me get her up on the bed," I heard Kristin say, but she sounded very far off. I closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep…

…I groaned. My head hurt, and my body felt like it was full of cement. I opened my eyes and saw Kristin and Lucas staring at me. "Well, look who's finally awake," Kristin said, smiling at me.

"What happened? What time is it?" I asked, sitting up.

"Whoa, not so fast," Kristin said, putting her hand on my shoulder, "and it's 11 pm."

"New year's eve," Lucas finished.

"What! How long have I been out?" I asked.

"A couple days," Kristin replied, trying to get me to sit back.

"A couple days…holy crap," I mumbled.

"Everyone's down by the moon pool for the new year's party," Lucas said. I smiled back at him.

"Let's go, then," I said, standing up.

"Oh, no; you're staying here," Kristin said.

"What? But it's my first new year's on _seaQues_t," I countered sadly. Kristin thought for a second.

"All right, but just for a little bit," Kristin said.

"Yes! Lucas, give me a hand up," I replied, holding my hand out to him. Lucas grabbed my hand and helped me up. We walked to the moon pool.

"Hey; how you feeling?" Ford asked.

"I feel fine…a little tired, but fine," I answered. Lucas led me over to the moon pool, and I leaned against the side of it.

…Almost an hour later , everyone in the room was staring up at the TV, watching the ball drop. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," we all yelled. Lucas turned towards me and kissed me. I melted into the kiss, and I could hear a couple of whistles coming from some of the other crew members…


	12. Delivery

**Three months later**

It was official; Lucas was now my boyfriend. I was so happy that I could dance. _SeaQuest _was docked at an underwater research station. We were bringing them supplies, and we'd arrived just three minutes ago. I was carrying a box of medical supplies to the lead scientist's lab, and Lucas was right behind me, carrying another box of supplies. I walked into the room and set my box on a table. A man, who looked to be in his thirties, was standing at the back of the room, looking down at a clip board. Lucas set his box down next to mine.

"Thank you; I'm Dr. Bender," The man said, smiling and holding his hand out to shake mine.

"Penny, and this is Lucas," I said, shaking his hand and motioning to Lucas.

"We have some medical supplies and a couple other things for you," Lucas stated. At that moment, Ford walked into the room carrying another box. He set the box down on the table.

"Hello, I'm Commander Ford," he said, and he and the doctor shook hands.

"Dr. Bender; I'm the top scientist here, and I've heard about you guys. The _seaQuest_ sounds amazing," he stated.

"It is; I never want to leave," I said jokingly. Lucas and Ford laughed.

"I've wanted to see the Seaquest for a while now, would it be possible to get a tour, if that's all right with you," Dr. Bender asked.

"Well we've had some trouble with tours in the past… and we do have some top secret experiments on _SeaQuest," _Ford said.

"Yeah no kidding," Lucas said.

"Yeah, I think Darwin wouldn't be too happy with us either," I said under my breath. Dr. Bender gave me a weird look.

"Ah yeah well I should get back to work," Dr. Bender said, patting me on the shoulder. We walked back to the launch, and headed back to Seaquest.

**Back on Seaquest/moon pool **

"Lucas, and Penny play?" Darwin asked.

"Not know Darwin," I said sitting down, next to Lucas, and Ford, and Darwin swam off.

"The people in there are weird. They won't talk to you or even look at you," Ford noted. Some of the crew was still delivering supplies to the science station, since they were long-overdue for a delivery.

"I know, the only person who would really talk to us was the head scientist, Dr. Bender," I stated.

"I wonder why no one would talk to us," Lucas wondered. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Who knows? Maybe they just don't like visitors?" I questioned.

"Maybe," Lucas said.

**One hour later {bridge}**

I followed Lucas to the bridge. Bridger had called us up there, saying something about Darwin being missing.

"Have you scanned the area for him?" Bridger asked as we walked onto the bridge.

"Yes but there's no sign of him," Tim said, worriedly.

"Maybe he couldn't find anything to eat near the boat so he swam out of the WSKRs view," I suggested.

"Maybe, but don't you think he would have been back by now?" Tim asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"What if someone took him?" Lucas asked

"I'm going to go over to the science station and ask if anyone's seen Darwin," I said.

"Huh?" Bridger asked.

"Well if someone took Darwin, then it's possible that it was someone from the science station," I replied. Bridger nodded his head, and I walked out of the bridge, and onto the mag-lev.

"Wait up; I'm coming with you," Lucas yelled, following me onto the mag-lev.

"You know I can do it on my own," I said, jokingly.

"Two people can cover more ground," he said, smiling. I laughed. Lucas gave me a quick kiss right as the mag-lev doors opened. Ford and Hitchcock were standing there, smiling at us. I blushed, and Lucas and I stepped off the mag-lev and boarded a launch.


	13. experiments

**Science station, Penny's P.O.V.**

I'd been through the entire science station asking anyone if they'd seen Darwin, and no one would talk to me. Something weird was going on. Suddenly, my PAL went off.

"Yeah," I said into the PAL.

"Penny, Bridger wants us back on _seaQuest_," Lucas said.

"Have they found Darwin yet?" I asked hopefully.

"No, they want to head out and see if Darwin might have swam further away from the boat, but they want us back there first," Lucas replied.

"All right, I'm on my way; I'll be at the launch in a minute," I said. I passed by Dr. Bender's office. He was the only one I hadn't talked to yet. I walked into his office, but he wasn't there. Huh? I was just about to leave when I noticed that there was a crack in the wall next to his book shelf, and I could see light coming from behind it. I walked over to it and slid it over. Okay; secret room behind the bookshelf. That's not weird at all. I walked into the room and looked around. There was a desk on one side of the room, a chair in the middle of the room, and a pool behind the chair. I could see Darwin floating near the edge of the pool. He was being held in place by some sort of device.

Darwin saw me and shook his head, splashing water all over the place. "Darwin!" I exclaimed, running over to him. He wouldn't stop splashing, and he was moving his head back and forth at me.

"Hold on, buddy; I'll get you out of here," I told him, grabbing my PAL. Then, something hit me, and I fell into the pool and accidently swallowed a gulp of water. Then, someone was pulling me out of the pool. I coughed up water, then looked up to see Dr. Bender. He grabbed my arms, and yanked me over to the chair and roughly forced me down into it. I coughed again. He put my arm on one of the arm rests of the chair and tied my hand to it, then did the same with the other side. I was too busy coughing up water to do anything about it. When I was done coughing up water, I looked up at Dr. Bender.

"What the heck are you doing, and how did you even know about Darwin?" I gasped.

"Experiments; just like I always do," he said, walking over to me and picking something off my shoulder. It was small, and I couldn't tell what it was. "And I found out about Darwin with the help of my little bug that I put on your shoulder earlier."

"Experiments on animals-wait; you bugged me?" I yelled questioningly. I was a bit annoyed that he'd managed to plant a bug on me.

"Animals _and_ people," he corrected.

"People? You've been experimenting on the people here? How could you?" I yelled.

"Research, of course, and now you and that dolphin are going to help me with one of my most recent experiments," he replied, walking over to the bookshelf and pulling it shut. I pulled against the ropes tying me to the chair. He walked over to the desk and picked something up. Then, he walked back over to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well, I've been working on a way to allow people to communicate with animals, but not in the same way you do on _seaQuest_," Dr. Bender said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You'll see what I mean in a little bit," he said, attaching a set of monitors to my head and arms, then he did the same to Darwin. He turned on two monitors, and I looked over at them.

"They will monitor yours and Darwin's brain waves throughout the experiment," he explained. This man is insane! Then he walked back over to the table and picked up two syringes. Man what is with people always wanting to stick needles into me? I'm starting to hate needles. Oh wait, strike that; I've _always_ hated needles. He walked over to me and stuck the syringe into my arm. Then, he walked over to Darwin, and did the same…

**Lucas's P.O.V. {Launch/science station}**

I looked down at my watch. Where is she? "Penny, _where_ are you? I've been standing here for almost five minutes now," I said into my PAL. I waited a minute, but she didn't respond.

"Penny, where are you?" I asked again after a few more minutes, but there was still no response. After another minute, I buzzed Bridger.

"Yes, Lucas?" Bridger greeted.

"Uh, Captain, Penny told me that she was going to meet at the launch five minutes ago, but she's still not here, and now she's not answering her PAL," I told him worriedly.

"All right; I want you back on _seaQuest _right away. I'll send Commander Ford and Lieutenant Krieg over to look for her," Bridger assured me.

"All right," I said, getting on to the launch…

**Back on **_**seaQuest**_

"Do you have any idea where she might be?" Ford asked me. I shook my head.

"No we split up to cover more ground, then after the captain told me that we needed to come back to _seaQuest_, I told Penny, and she said she'd meet me at the launch," I explained.

"Don't worry; we'll find her," Krieg said.

"Why can't I help you guys look?" I asked.

"Because we've already lost two of our crew members; I'm not losing you too," Bridger said. I sighed. Where the heck could Penny and Darwin be?

"Hey, maybe whoever took Darwin has Penny," I suggested.

"That's if someone _did_ take Darwin," Ford reminded. I sighed. Ford and Krieg boarded the launch and headed back to the science station. I walked to the moon pool and looked down at the water. I felt terrible. Darwin was missing, and I felt as if Penny and I had been ignoring him recently. He saved our lives, and we still wouldn't play with him. Maybe if we'd played with him, he wouldn't have gone missing, and then Penny wouldn't be missing.

"Don't worry; Commander Ford and Lieutenant Krieg will find Penny and Darwin," Kristin assured me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"What's this?" she asked after a moment, pulling something off my shoulder.

"I don't know," I said, taking the thing from Kristin.

"It looks like some sort of tiny camera," I stated, squinting at the device.

"But how did it get on your shoulder?" she asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that this has something to do with Darwin and Penny disappearing," I said angrily…


	14. experiments explained

**Penny's P.O.V. **

Dr. Bender had left half an hour ago. Darwin was splashing water all over the place. I turned my head to look at Darwin.

"Don't worry, Darwin; I'm going to get us out of here," I said, pulling at the ropes. Man, my head was hurting. Darwin flapped his tail up and down furiously. I sighed; this was getting very annoying. A couple minutes later, Dr. Bender walked back into the room. He gave Darwin and I another shot, then he checked the monitors and left once again. I yanked at the ropes one more time and then sat back. This is hopeless! Darwin shook his head, trying to get out of the thing that had him held to the side of the pool.

**Lucas's P.O.V. {**_**seaQuest**_**}**

I was sitting by the moon pool. I couldn't stand this, I needed to do something. At that moment, the doc walked into the room.

"Did they find her?" I asked. Doc shook her head. I sighed.

"Hey, don't worry; they're going to find her. It's just going to take some time," Doc reassured me and wrapped me in a hug. I hugged her back.

"I know they will; I just can't help but worry about her," I replied.

"I know, I know. Hey, when you and Penny were missing I was so worried about you guys, but I knew that we would find you two," she said. I smiled at her.

"Thanks," I said. She smiled back at me...

**Penny's P.O.V.**

Another half an hour had gone by, and my head was killing me. Dr. Bender walked back into the room. He gave Darwin and I yet _another_ shot.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" I asked. He smiled.

"I'm trying to connect you two. I want to make it so that you don't need some device to talk with Darwin. You'd be able to actually _know _what he was thinking. You wouldn't have to guess what was going through his mind because you'd be able to hear what he was thinking at that exact moment," he ranted. I gave him a funny look.

"Okay, let me get this straight; you have a way to make it so that I can hear Darwin's thoughts?" I asked.

"Yes, and he'd be able to hear your thoughts," he replied. I was correct; this man is _insane_.

"And what makes you think that you can actually make it so that I can hear his thoughts?" I asked.

"Well, I managed to make it happen last time, but it is best to have several trials just to make sure that the experiment is a success," he stated.

"Really, you actually made it so that someone could hear an animal's thoughts?" I questioned, slightly intrigued. He nodded his head. Okay, well, maybe he's not completely insane. What am I thinking? Of course he's insane; he's doing experiments on people and animals.

"As you know experimenting on humans, and animal's was outlawed in the 1940's," I told him.

"That may be true, but I can't get in trouble if no one knows what I'm doing," He replied. I groaned.

"Man, I have such a headache," I mumbled.

"That's normal. Both yours and Darwin's brains are… I guess you could say_ rewiring_…to allow you two to hear each other's thoughts," he explained. I had to admit the guy was a bit of a genius. But that didn't change anything; I was still going to kill him! Darwin nodded his head furiously splashing water all over the place. Dr. Bender smiled and looked back and forth between Darwin and me.

"You can already hear his thoughts, can't you?" he asked.

"No, I can't," I said.

"Hm, well maybe he can hear yours?" he said smiling. He looked over at the monitors.

"Well, I have some things to do," he said, walking out of the room. I groaned. The only good thing about this was that while he was giving me that dang shot, I managed to swipe his keys. I twisted one of the key so that the notches were against the ropes. It may take a while, but I should be able to cut through the ropes, slowly…


	15. Mind linked

**Lucas's P.O.V. {**_**seaQuest**_** launch bay}**

Ford and Krieg were on their way back from the science station. They said they think that they found something; they're just not sure what exactly. "So what did you find?" Bridger asked, as Ford and Krieg walked over to us. Ford held something out to me. I took it from him and examined it.

"It's just like the bug that Kristin found on me. Where did you find this?" I asked.

"In Dr. Bender's office. It was sitting on his desk," Ford said.

"I knew there was something weird about him," I grumbled.

"You can't beat yourself up about this, Lucas," Krieg said. I nodded my head.

"Did you see anything else when you were in his office?" Bridger asked.

"Well, when we walked into his office, he was messing with the bookshelf behind his desk, and I swear I saw something behind the shelf," Ford stated.

"What? Like a secret passage?" Kristin asked.

"Maybe," Ford replied.

"That could be where he's keeping Penny and Darwin," I suggested.

"Most likely. We're ready to go back and find out," Ford said.

"I'll be coming with you. Lucas, stay here with Kristin; we'll be back soon with Penny and Darwin," Bridger promised. I nodded my head. Hopefully they'd be back here soon…

**Penny's P.O.V. {Science station/secret room}**

This is so not working! I'd been sitting here for over half an hour and hadn't even gotten halfway through the ropes around my wrist. I sighed. Darwin was going nuts. He was splashing water all over the place. "Hold on, Darwin; I'll get us out of here," I said to him. Oh, man, hopefully someone from the _seaQuest _will find us soon 'cause right now, I've got nothing to get us free. Darwin shook his head and slammed his tail down in the water. He hit the water so hard that the splash reached the monitors. The screen flickered, and I saw a couple sparks. Then, I felt a tingle on my face and arms. It took me a second to realize that I was being shocked by the monitors. Darwin was flinging his head back and forth in pain. I dropped the key as electricity moved through my hands. My head hurt, and the room was spinning…

_ "They're in here," a voice yelled from across the room. But I was too tired to open my eyes. But I could see an image forming in my mind. Bridger, Ford, and Krieg were running towards me. Bridger pulled the monitor things off my head, then untied my hands. Bridger was freeing Darwin. But something seemed strange. I was staring at myself from the pool. It was as if I was seeing the world through Darwin's eyes. _

"_Don't worry, my friend; I'll have you back on __**seaQuest **__soon," Bridger whispered to Darwin. Darwin shut his eyes, and everything went dark…_

**SeaQuest Med bay**

…I sat up and looked around me. I was lying on a bed in the med bay on _seaQuest_. Lucas was asleep in a chair next to the bed, and I could see Darwin floating in a tub of water a few feet away. He had little patches all over his head. I shook Lucas's shoulder. "Lucas, wake up," I said.

"Huh, what?" Lucas exclaimed, falling out of his chair. I giggled.

"How are you?" Lucas asked standing up.

"I'm… fine. How's Darwin?" I asked.

"He's doing well, a little tired, but otherwise, he's fine," Lucas replied. I nodded my head. Lucas pulled out his PAL and called Bridger.

"Captain, Penny's awake," Lucas told him.

"We'll be right there," Bridger said. A couple minutes later Bridger, Dr. Westphalen, Ford, and Krieg were standing in front of me.

"So, what happened back there? Dr. Bender's not talking," Bridger said.

"Well, he was doing experiments on humans and animals. He was trying to find a way to allow people to talk to animals without the help of any devices," I explained.

"Well, how else are we supposed to communicate with animals?" Krieg asked.

"Well, he said that he was trying to make it so that a person could hear an animal's thoughts. He also said that he'd managed to do it one time before," I said. Everyone was staring at me.

"What, that's what he said," I exclaimed.

"Well, he's insane," Lucas said.

"He is, but he may have been on to something," I mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Bridger asked.

"Ah, well… uh… when you guys came and rescued Darwin and me, I was out cold, but I could see everything that was going on. It was as if I was seeing through Darwin's eyes," I said quietly. Now everyone was staring at me like I was crazy.

"Are you sure you weren't just dreaming?" Krieg asked. I glared at him.

"Yeah, you could have been dreaming," Lucas agreed.

"Okay, when you guys rescued us, I heard Bridger promise Darwin that he'd have him back on _seaQuest _soon," I said defensively. Everyone looked at Bridger.

"I did say that to Darwin," Bridger confirmed.

"So, that doesn't mean that she saw it through Darwin's eyes," Krieg said. I glared daggers at him. How do I convince them when I'm not even completely sure whether or not I can hear Darwin's thoughts? _'Show them, show them. Test,' _a voice in my head said. Huh? _'Show them that you hear me, then Lucas and Penny play.'_ I giggled, and everyone stared at me.

"Oh, sorry, uh, I got a way to prove it," I said, getting up and grabbing a notebook. I turned so my back was facing Lucas, and the rest of the group.

"Okay, so, I'm going to write something down, and only you guys will see what I'm writing. And if me Darwin and I can really hear each other's thoughts, then Darwin will tell us what I wrote down," I explained. I wrote something down on the notebook, then handed it to Lucas. Kristin turned on the vocoder. _Okay, Darwin_, I thought, _my first day here on __**seaQuest**_.

"First day; Penny covered in goo," Darwin exclaimed, nodding his head up, and down. Lucas looked down at the notebook.

"He's right," Lucas exclaimed. I smiled.

"Told you," I said proudly. Bridger, and Kristin where staring at me and Darwin.

"Lucas and Penny play now?" Darwin asked, looking at us. I looked over at Lucas.

"Uh, sure. Why not?" Lucas replied absentmindedly. I laughed.

"That's what I was laughing about earlier. He said to show you that it was true so that we could play," I explained. Bridger laughed.

"That sounds like Darwin," Bridger said, petting Darwin on the head.

"Come on, Lucas, Darwin wants to play," I said.

"Wait, wait I want to examine you and Darwin a bit more, do a couple tests, and maybe find out how Dr. Bender linked you two," Kristin exclaimed. I pouted, and Darwin shook his head forcefully.

"No, Darwin play, Penny, and Lucas play," Darwin stated, almost angrily. I laughed.

"I don't think Darwin likes the sound of being tested on, and I don't blame him. I mean the both of us where tested on by Dr. Bender," I said. Kristin frowned.

"I'm on Kristin's side, we should try to find out exactly how you two are connected," Bridger said.

"No, Darwin play," Darwin said, splashing water all over the place.

'_No more tests, no more, play,'_ Darwin said mentally. He showed me an image of me, him, and Lucas playing when I first got here. He was happy, and that day was after all the first time I realized that I liked Lucas. Then he showed me another image of Dr. Bender doing his experiment on us.

"No, I'm with Darwin on this one, no more tests," I said moving away from the group of people. I had always been afraid of needles, and at one point when I was a little kid I had been afraid of doctors, and now all those feelings where coming back. I shook my head again, and Darwin did the same.

"No more tests," We said, at the same time. Bridger nodded his head.

"All right no tests," Bridger said. I looked over at Kristin. She sighed.

"All right, but I would at least like to get a sample of yours, and Darwin's blood," She said. I looked over at Darwin.

'_Is that okay with you?'_ I asked him. He nodded his head.

"All right," I replied. Kristin took some blood, then we had to move on to the task of getting Darwin back in the moon pool. It took us a couple of minutes to get Darwin back in the moon pool.

"So why did you have him in that tub?" I asked.

"Well, when we brought him in, he wouldn't let us put him in the moon pool, so we put him in the tub in the med bay," Kristin explained.

"Hm, really?" I mumbled.

'_Darwin be near Penny,'_ he said to me with his mind, and I saw an image of him watching Kristin examining me to see if I was okay. I smiled.

"Play, play," Darwin said, splashing Lucas and me. I laughed again.

"Well, you heard him," I said.

"Oh, after you," Lucas said. He looked at Krieg, and Krieg returned the look. Then, Krieg grabbed me and tossed me into the moon pool.

"Ahh! I'm going to get you guys," I yelled. Lucas and Krieg laughed.

'_Let's get them,"_ I said to Darwin in my mind. Darwin nodded his head, and we swam over to them. I jumped up and grabbed Lucas, and Darwin grabbed Krieg by his shirt. We pulled them into the moon pool. I laughed at the look on their faces.

"Oh, it's on," Lucas said. I laughed and grabbed hold of Darwin's fin, and he pulled me through the tube. We spent the rest of the day chasing each other. After today, I felt even more tired. I plopped down on my bed, closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep…


	16. MRI's

**Three days later {med bay}**

I was standing next to an MRI machine. Dr. Westphalen had managed to convince me to get an MRI done. So far she'd gotten blood from Darwin and me, and she'd be getting MRIs from us, though I don't exactly know how she's going to get one from Darwin. I sat down on the bed thing.

"I'm going to start the machine now," Dr. Westphalen said. I nodded my head. The machine started up, and I closed my eyes.

"All right, Penny, what I want you to do is talk with Darwin right now," the doctor said through the speakers. I sighed. I imagined that I was in the moon pool with Darwin.

'_Penny, what's Penny doing?'_ Darwin asked.

"_A test,_" I said. I got a mental image of Darwin shaking his head.

'_No tests!'_ he exclaimed.

"_It's just an MRI. It doesn't hurt. All it's doing is scanning my brain to see if there's anything wrong,_" I explained.

'_No tests; tests bad,'_ Darwin exclaimed.

"_I know, I don't like them either, but the doctor wants to make sure that there's nothing wrong with us,_" I said.

"Wow, this is incredible," I heard the doctor say.

Holy crap, massive head ache! My vision got blurry, and my head was pounding.

'_Penny, what wrong, Penny?_' Darwin asked.

"_I don't know; ah, my head,_"

"Turn it off!" I yelled, curling into a ball. I put my head in my hands. The machine turned off, and Dr. Westphalen ran into the room.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't know; I was fine, but then, I got this massive head ache," I grumbled, trying to sit up. My vision was still a little blurry, but my head ache was starting to go away.

"I'm fine now," I said, smiling at the doctor.

"Um, okay… do you want to see the results from the MRI?" she asked. I nodded my head. I followed her into the next room and sat down in front of one of the computers.

"Okay, so this is your brain before you started talking with Darwin," she said, pointing to the screen. Only a few areas in my brain were lit up.

"And this is your brain after you started talking with Darwin," she said, bringing the image onto the screen. Almost every part of the image was lit up.

"Wow, what a change," I said.

"See, when you talk to Darwin or hear each other's thoughts, you're using almost every part of your brain," she stated.

"That's so cool. Okay, can I go back to the moon pool because Darwin seemed kind of upset when I talked with him?" I said briskly.

"Don't you find this interesting?" she asked. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, but Darwin and I are connected, and he really doesn't like tests. His feelings are kind of strong, and they kind of effect how I feel," I answered.

"Well, don't you want to know how to fix you two?" Dr. Westphalen asked.

"No, I kind of like being connected to Darwin. I know he's always there, and I can talk to him whenever I want," I explained. Dr. Westphalen smiled.

"All right, come on, let's get back to the moon pool," she said. I nodded my head and followed her out of the med bay and towards the moon pool…


	17. The dream

**Penny's P. O. V.**

_I looked around me. I was standing in a room full of people. Lucas was standing next to me, and there was a group of people dancing around us. I smiled at Lucas. Then suddenly, I was standing in the docking bay. Captain Bridger, Dr. Westphalen, Lucas, and I were standing around the door to a launch. A woman got out of the launch, and walked towards us. She smiled, and shook each of our hands. Then suddenly, I was surrounded by fire. The walls were covered in fire, and I could see Lucas standing off to the side of the room. The fire was blocking my path from him, and the smoke made it hard to see him. He was bent down in front of someone who was lying on the ground. The fire was moving closer to me, and I could feel my heart speeding up. _

"_Lucas!" I screamed. But he didn't lift his head. I could just barely see him pushing down on the person's chest._

"_LUCAS,"I screamed, running towards him. I ran over to him and tried to grab him, but it was like I wasn't solid because my hand went through him._

"_Lucas, look at me," I screamed. He pushed down on the person's chest. I looked down at the person. Holy crap, it's me! I took a step back. My hair was a mess, and there was a huge gash on my head and my shirt was ripped a little. My eyes where open, staring blankly into space. Holy crap! I'm dead. I stumbled backwards and tripped over something. I fell to the ground, and a ring of fire surrounded me. I was having trouble breathing, and my heart was beating so fast…_

"Penny, wake up," Lucas said, shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and sat up.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, just a bad dream," I mumbled. I looked over at my clock. 7:30 am. Lucas sat there, looking at me funny.

"I'm fine, really, just a really bad dream," I said, giving him a small smile. "A very realistic dream."

"_Bad dream; fire. Penny dead; why bad dream?" Darwin exclaimed._ I looked at the aqua tube and saw Darwin floating there.

"_I don't know, Darwin, I don't know," I answered._

"What's he saying?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, he, uh, had the same dream," I explained.

"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting that you two are connected," Lucas replied. I smiled.

"Oh, I almost forget, we'll be docking in New York in a day, and I found out about this dance club for teenagers and I was wondering if you'd like to go when we dock?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said, smiling at him. Lucas smiled, back.

"Well, then it's a date," he exclaimed, smiling at me. He leaned over and kissed me. I kissed him back. After a minute, Lucas got up and left. I sat back on my bed, and drifted in and out of sleep for another two hours. When I finally did get up, I got changed quickly and then ran down to the moon pool. Dr. Westphalen and Lucas were standing around the pool, and Darwin was floating near them. They were working on the vocoder.

"Hey what's wrong with the vocoder?" I asked, walking up to them.

"I'm not sure; there's some sort of glitch," Lucas replied, looking up at me. I smiled at him.

"So when exactly do you think we'll be docking in New York?" I asked, looking at Dr. Westphalen.

"Sometime tonight," she answered, looking up at me.

"Penny and Lucas go on date," Darwin exclaimed. Dr. Westphalen smiled.

"Really, where?" she asked.

"A dance club in New York," Lucas replied, glaring at Darwin. I laughed.

"Hm, so your first real date," Dr. Westphalen said, smiling at us.

"Yeah, it's gonna be great," I exclaimed, smiling. Apparently today was a smiling day. I sat down next to Lucas, and Dr. Westphalen. I helped them fix the problem with the vocoder, then we all went and got something to eat. The captain joined us a couple minutes later.

"So did you fix the problem with the vocoder?" Bridger asked.

"Yup, it's all fixed," I replied, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"So how much longer till we dock in New York?" Lucas asked.

"Three hours, why?" Bridger asked.

"Because Lucas and Penny have a date," Dr. Westphalen answered, smiling.

"Really," Bridger said, looking at us.

"Yes," Lucas said.

"So what are you guys going to do?" Bridger asked, sitting down.

"We're going to a dance club," I answered.

"Sounds like fun," Bridger replied, smiling at us. Okay, so why is everyone so smiley today? Then again, today does seem like a good day with Lucas' and my date tonight…


	18. dance date

**Penny's P. O. V. {Dance Club}**

"So who told you about this club?" I asked, looking over at Lucas.

"Krieg; he said his cousin went here once," Lucas answered. We were walking down the stairs into the basement, where the dance floor was. The upstairs part of the dance club was where everyone sat down to eat and to take a break from dancing. We walked out onto the dance floor, and there was a slow song playing. I wrapped my arms around Lucas's shoulders, and Lucas put his hands on my sides. I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder. We danced for a while, then stopped to get something to eat…

**One hour later**

The dance floor was crowded with tons of people. Lucas and I were standing off to the side of the dance floor. We were waiting for the dance floor to clear off more before starting to dance again. Lucas had his arm wrapped around me. I smiled at him, and he smiled back at me. A couple people walked off the dance floor and went upstairs.

"Wanna dance?" Lucas asked.

"Sure, why not?" I replied, following him out onto the dance floor. We danced for a couple more minutes, then headed towards the stairs when suddenly, the ground start to shake. I stumbled backwards, and Lucas grabbed my arm to keep me from falling. The room was shaking, and I heard some glass breaking upstairs. I heard a creaking noise coming from over my head. I looked up and saw that the beam on the ceiling had a huge crack in it. Suddenly, the beam broke and came swinging towards Lucas and me. Lucas shoved me to the side, and I fell on the ground. Lucas landed on top of me. I heard something crash down onto the ground where we had been standing. The lights flickered, then turned off, and the backup lights turned on, although they weren't that bright. The ground stopped shaking after a minute…

**Bridger's P.O.V. {one minute earlier in the mess hall of **_**seaQuest**_**}**

Kristin and I were having dinner together since Lucas and Penny were on a date. I thought it would be nice for Kristin and me to have a date as well.

"I wonder how Lucas and Penny are doing on their date," Kristin thought out loud. I smiled.

"I'm sure they're fine," I reassured her. She smiled at me and took a bite of her salad. Suddenly, the table started to shake slightly. I pulled out my PAL and called to the bridge.

"O'Neill, what's going on?" I asked.

"There's a massive earthquake in New York, Sir. What we're feeling is nothing compared to what they're feeling on land," O'Neill replied. Kristin looked up at me worriedly.

"Lucas and Penny are at a dance club _in_ New York," she exclaimed. The table shook, and my cup fell off the table and shattered on the floor.

"It's getting worse," O'Neill yelled over the PAL. Then, the shaking stopped. I jumped out of my seat and ran towards the bridge with Kristin right behind me.

"How bad was it?" I asked, running onto the bridge towards O'Neill.

"It was a 5.8," he answered.

"Oh my goodness," Kristin exclaimed.

"What's the report on the damage?" I asked.

"Uh, I'm not getting much; there've been a couple reports of small buildings falling down, but that's all I'm getting," he replied.

"All right, ready a launch; I'm going to find that club that Lucas and Penny are at," I said, heading out of the bridge. Kristin, Commander Ford, and Krieg followed me.

"We want to help you find them," Commander Ford said.

"No, while I'm gone, I'd like you to take command," I told Commander Ford. He nodded his head and walked back to the bridge.

"What about us, Captain?" Krieg asked.

"Come on," I answered, heading towards the docking bay…


	19. Trapped

**Penny's P.O.V.**

I looked up towards the stairs; the entrance was blocked by the beam that had fallen and also a giant pile of rubble. Lucas reached down and helped me up off the floor. I brushed the dirt off my shirt, then looked around the room. I watched as some kids got up and walked towards us.

"How are we supposed to get out?" one of them exclaimed. I looked back at the stairs again. Lucas reached into his pocket and pulled out his PAL. The screen was cracked, but it still turned on.

"Hello, can anyone hear me?" he said. We stood there for a minute and got no response.

"Can anyone hear me?" he asked again. All I heard was static.

"Dang it," Lucas grumbled, looking around the room. He walked towards the stairs and put the PAL right next to the beam.

"Can anyone hear me?" he said again. And once again, all he got was static.

"There's too much interference," he stated. I couldn't help but think back to my dream. Was it connected to what was happing right now? I grabbed Lucas's arm and pulled him off to the side.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, but remember that bad dream I had last night?" I asked him. He nodded his head.

"Well, I didn't realize it till now, but part of the dream was you and me standing or I guess dancing in a room with a bunch of people," I explained.

"You had a dream about our date?" he questioned with a small smile on his face. I couldn't help but let out a small giggle at his expression.

"Ah, yeah, but there were a few other things in the dream that haven't happened like I saw you, the captain, Dr. Westphalen, and I greeting some woman who was coming to _seaQuest_," I stated.

"What part of the dream made it a _bad_ dream?" Lucas asked. Oh, yeah, I forgot about that part.

"Ah, well… ah…" I really didn't want to tell him about that part of the dream.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked.

"Ah, well… okay, so at the end of the dream, I kind of saw… ah… well, I was kind of…dead," I grumbled. Lucas frowned.

"Well, it was just a dream; it's not gonna happen," Lucas reassured me. I nodded my head. I hope he's right…

**Bridger's P.O.V. {Somewhere near the dance club}**

"Turn to the right at the next red light," Krieg said. I nodded my head.

"I hope they're both all right," Kristin said.

"I'm sure they're fine," I reassured, turning to the right.

"Now keep going straight for three blocks, then turn left," Krieg told me. Kristin pulled out her PAL and tried to reach Penny and Lucas _again_.

"Lucas, Penny, can you hear me?" she asked.

"There may be something interfering with their PAL units," I explained. Kristin sighed and put her PAL away.

"Okay, a few more blocks, and we should be at the dance club," Krieg stated. I drove for a couple more blocks until Krieg told me to stop.

"This is the place," Krieg said, getting out of the car. I turned the car off and got out. People were standing around the club, and there was a fire truck sitting off to the side of it. I ran towards the building, but a fireman stopped me from going inside.

"I'm sorry, I can't let you in there. The building isn't stable. I assure you, we have people in there trying to get everyone out," the fireman explained.

"I'm Captain Bridger of the _seaQuest_, and I have two of my crew members in there," I exclaimed, looking towards the building.

"We're doing everything we can. You'll just have to be patient," the man said…


	20. communication

**Penny's P.O.V.**

"Okay; one, two, three, lift," Lucas yelled. I pulled up on the beam, along with four other people, including Lucas. But it was no use; the beam was too heavy. We let go of the beam.

"Man, that thing's heavy," I grumbled. I looked around the room. There were a couple people sitting off to the side of the room. I felt bad that there wasn't anything I could do to make them feel better.

"How you doing?" Lucas asked me.

"I'm good," I answered.

"You're not feeling claustrophobic, are you?" he asked.

"No, not really, the room's big enough," I replied. Lucas nodded his head.

"So, what are we gonna do?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure; there isn't much we can do, except try and clear away some of that rubble," he said, picking up a piece of rubble. I picked a piece too and chucked it to the side. A couple of the people who'd been sitting down got up and started helping us as well. We spent half an hour moving rubble until we hit another beam and a giant piece of the ceiling.

"There's no way we can move that thing," someone exclaimed. I sighed.

"This is frustrating," I grumbled. Lucas nodded his head, along with several other people.

"Hey we cleared away a good amount of rubble. Do you think your PAL might work now?" I asked. Lucas pulled out his PAL and turned it on.

"Can anyone hear me?" Lucas said. We stood there for a second.

"Lucas… you," Bridger said.

"Yes, it works!" I exclaimed. Lucas laughed.

"Yeah, Captain, it's me," Lucas replied.

"Are… all right?" Bridger asked. There was a tone of static, and I could barely hear him.

"We're fine; where are you?" Lucas asked.

"Outside… club," Bridger answered.

"The firemen… trying to clear away the ruble… your way out," Krieg exclaimed. Some of the kids around us started to cheer. I smiled.

"We'll be waiting for you guys," Lucas replied…

**Bridger's P.O.V.**

We were standing outside the club watching firemen run in and out of the building when, suddenly, my PAL started beeping. I grabbed it and turned it on.

"Can… here me?" Lucas asked over the PAL.

"Lucas, is that you?" I asked.

"Yeah… me," Lucas said.

"Are you guys all right?" I asked.

"We're fine… are you?" Lucas replied.

"Outside the club," I said.

"The firemen are trying to clear away the ruble that's blocking your way out," Krieg exclaimed, using his PAL.

"That's… how… longer?" Lucas asked.

"I'm not sure; hopefully, not too long," I told him.

"Just hang on, you guys, and be careful," Kristin said.

"Will do," Penny replied. Kristin was smiling.

"I'm so glad they're okay," she exclaimed.

"Me too," I replied. A fireman walked over to us.

"You were just talking to the people inside the club, right?" he asked.

"Yes, our two crew members have their PAL units on them," I responded.

"Could you ask them how many kids are down there with them?" the man asked. I nodded my head.

"Lucas, Penny, how many people are down there with you?" I asked.

"Ten," Penny replied, a couple seconds later. The fireman nodded his head, then walked back over to the other firemen. I watched them walk into the building. I hated not being able to do anything…


	21. forgetting

**Penny's P.O.V.**

"_Penny all right?" _Darwin asked. I smiled.

"_I'm fine, just a little scared," _I told him. I got a mental image of Darwin nodding his head.

"What you smiling at?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, Darwin, he wanted to know if… we were okay," I answered. Lucas smiled.

"You know, I'm getting used to the fact that you two can hear each other's thoughts," Lucas replied. I smiled.

"Lucas, Penny… many people… down there… you?" Bridger asked. I looked around me, and counted.

"Ten," I said. A couple of the kids were sitting near the back of the room talking. Suddenly the ground started shaking again. I stumbled into the wall.

"Not again," I grumbled. I clung to the wall, trying not to fall on my butt.

"Penny, look out!" Lucas screamed. I looked over to my right, just as another beam smashed into my head…

_ I sat up, and looked around me. I was sitting on the floor of the dance club. I stood up and looked back. I saw myself lying on the ground. I took a step back. There was a huge gash on my head. The ground stopped shaking, and I saw Lucas run over to me. _

"_Penny, get up," he yelled, shaking my shoulders. He put his fingers on my neck._

"_Oh, no; come on, Penny, get up," he yelled. Then, he started CPR. _

"_Come on, Penny," Lucas yelled once again. _

"_Penny, wake up," Darwin yelled in my head. Could I even say in my head? I mean, I'm standing right here, but I'm also lying on the ground over there. This is a nightmare, a nightmare that I've had before. The only difference was that my eyes were closed._

"_Come on, Penny," Lucas yelled a third time. Some of the kids had gathered around Lucas and me. I can't be dead! _

"_PENNY, WAKE UP," Darwin yelled…_

**Lucas's P.O.V.**

Penny had just told Bridger how many people were down here with us when the ground started shaking. Penny stumbled back into the wall. I looked up above her and saw a beam falling towards her.

"Penny, look out!" I screamed. Penny looked to the side, just as the beam hit her in the face. She fell to the ground and didn't move. The beam was hanging from the ceiling. The ground stopped shaking, and I ran over to Penny. There was a huge gash across her head.

"Penny, get up," I yelled, shaking her shoulders. I put my hand on her neck, but couldn't find her pulse.

"Oh no, come on, Penny get up," I pleaded. Then, I started CPR.

"Come on, Penny," I yelled.

"Come on, Penny," I yelled again. Some of the kids had gathered around me. Suddenly, Penny, took a breath. But, she didn't open her eyes. I sighed.

"Are you… Okay?" Bridger asked. I pulled out my PAL.

"I'm fine, but Penny's hurt." I looked at the other kids around me. No one else seemed to be hurt. "And everyone else is fine," I said into my PAL.

"How hurt?" Kristin asked.

"I'm not exactly sure. She got hit in the head by a beam," I replied.

"The firemen… almost through… hold on… longer," Bridger said. I put my PAL back in my pocket…

**Half an hour later**

...The firemen had gotten through the rubble and were getting people out of the building. A group of men, led by Kristin, were taking Penny back to _seaQuest_ in an ambulance.

"You ready to get back to _seaQuest_?" Bridger asked me. I nodded my head…

_**seaQuest**_

I was sitting in the infirmary, waiting for Penny to wake up. It had been almost 2 hours since we'd gotten back to _seaQuest_. I sighed. I wish she'd wake up. Suddenly her eyes flickered, then opened.

"I'm so glad you're okay," I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around her. I pulled away when she didn't return my hug. She had this funny look on her face.

"What's wrong, Penny?" I asked.

"Where am I?" She asked, looking around her.

"The infirmary on _seaQuest_. What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm sorry; who are you again?" she asked…


	22. The new person

**Penny's P.O.V.**

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" I asked the guy sitting in front of me.

"Uh… Lucas; don't you remember me?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Well, what _do_ you remember?" he asked.

"I remember that I was going to start working on _seaQuest_ in about a day or two," I told him. His face fell.

"You_ did_ start; that was about 7 months ago," he said. I felt my mouth drop.

"_Penny awake; Penny awake," _a voice said. Lucas didn't seem to notice the voice. I looked around the room.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked.

"Did you hear that voice?" I asked. Lucas smiled.

"That's Darwin, our dolphin. A little while ago, a man named Dr. Bender made it so that you could hear Darwin's thoughts, and Darwin could hear yours," Lucas explained. I coughed.

"Wha… how?" I exclaimed. Lucas laughed. An image popped into my head. _I saw myself sitting in a chair with my hands tied to the arm rests. It was almost as if I was seeing this through someone else's eyes._

"_Darwin show Penny; Darwin help Penny remember," _Darwin's voice stated again. Lucas took out his PAL.

"Dr. Westphalen, Captain, Penny's awake," Lucas said into the PAL.

"I'll be right there," a woman's voice replied. After a minute, an older man and woman appeared in front of us.

"How are you?" the woman asked.

"I'm fine," I replied, smiling at them. "Who are you?"

"She's just having a little trouble remembering the past 7 months," Lucas added.

"Oh, my," the woman replied somewhat worriedly. "I'm Dr. Westphalen, dear, and this is Captain Bridger." She patted my leg. "And don't you worry; with a little help from the rest of the crew, I'm sure you'll get your memory back in no time."

"Makes sense," I mumbled. This was too weird, how could I forget the past 7 months? Another image popped into my head. _It was of Lucas and me sitting by the moon pool. Darwin swam up to us holding a pole with mistletoe hanging off the end of it._

_"Is that… mistletoe?" I asked. Darwin nodded his head. I laughed._

_"I think he wants us to kiss." Lucas said. Darwin nodded his head again. This time both Lucas and I laughed. I smiled at Lucas._

_"Well, it is mistletoe," I said sheepishly. Lucas smiled. I leaned closer to him, and we kissed._

Suddenly, the scene changed.

_I was leaning up against the moon pool, and Lucas was standing next to me. Everyone in the room was staring up at the TV, watching the ball drop. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," we all yelled. Lucas turned towards me and kissed me. I melted into the kiss, and I could hear a couple of whistles coming from some of the other crew members._

Yet, another scene flashed in my mind.

_Then, we were standing on a dance floor with a bunch of other kids our age. I wrapped my arms around Lucas's shoulders, and he put his hands on my sides. I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder, and we danced for a while._

"Penny, are you there?" Lucas asked. Lucas, Bridger, and Dr. Westphalen were all staring at me with worried looks.

"Oh, yeah, I was just remembering something, I guess. Either that or Darwin was showing them to me," I replied, blushing slightly when I when I looked at Lucas.

"I think we'll just leave you two to talk," Dr. Westphalen said, grabbing Bridger's arm and pulling him out of the room.

"_Darwin show, Darwin show,"_ Darwin stated. I smiled.

"Darwin saying something?" Lucas asked. I nodded my head, smiling.

"So what did Darwin show you?" Lucas asked.

"Well, uh…" I started, a little embarrassed.

"Of us kissing or dancing?" Lucas guessed. I blushed.

"Both," I squeaked. Lucas smiled.

"We went on a dance date earlier, but it was interrupted by an earthquake, and we got trapped inside the dance club with some kids, and a beam hit you in the head," Lucas told me.

"Oh," I mumbled.

Another memory flashed in my mind.

_I looked around me. I was standing in a room full of people. Lucas was standing next to me, and there was a group of people dancing around us. I smiled at Lucas. Then suddenly, I was standing in the docking bay. Captain Bridger, Dr. Westphalen, Lucas, and I were standing around the door to a launch. A woman got out of the launch, and walked towards us. She smiled, and shook each of our hands. Then suddenly, I was surrounded by fire. The walls were covered in fire, and I could see Lucas standing off to the side of the room. The fire was blocking my path from him, and the smoke made it hard to see him. He was bent down in front of someone who was lying on the ground. The fire was moving closer to me, and I could feel my heart speeding up. _

"_Lucas!" I screamed. But he didn't lift his head. I could just barely see him pushing down on the person's chest._

"_LUCAS,"I screamed, running towards him. I ran over to him and tried to grab him, but it was like I wasn't solid because my hand went through him._

"_Lucas, look at me," I screamed. He pushed down on the person's chest. I looked down at the person. Holy crap; it's me! I took a step back. My hair was a mess, and there was a huge gash on my head, and my shirt was ripped a little. My eyes were open, staring blankly into space. Holy crap! I'm dead. I stumbled backwards and tripped over something. I fell to the ground, and a ring of fire surrounded me. I was having trouble breathing, and my heart was beating so fast._

"Penny, Penny," Lucas said, shaking my shoulders.

"What?" I asked, looking up at him.

"What did you see?" He asked.

"I saw us standing in the dance club. Then you, Dr. Westphalen, the captain, and I were in launch bay greeting some woman coming to_ seaQuest_. And then, I saw myself lying on the ground, but I was dead," I replied.

"Oh, you had that dream right before I asked you out on our date," Lucas said.

"More like a nightmare," I said.

"Yeah, all of it came true except for the part about that woman," Lucas said. I sighed. Suddenly, Lucas's PAL started beeping.

"Yes," Lucas said into the PAL.

"Lucas, there's a guest that just arrived. She's here to see Penny. Dr. Westphalen and I will be bringing her down to the med-bay," Bridger said. Both mine and Lucas's eyes went wide, and we looked at each other.

"Uh… uh… that sounds fine," Lucas stuttered.

"And so, the entire dream comes true," I said creepily. Lucas laughed slightly.

"The only difference is that we're not going down to the docking bay to meet her," Lucas replied.

"_Penny's dream come true?" _Darwin asked.

"_Yeah,"_ I replied. You know what, I kinda like being able to hear Darwin's thoughts. It's nice. A couple minutes later Bridger, Dr. Westphalen, and a woman with short brown hair and blue eyes, walked into the room.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Wendy Smith," she said, smiling and holding her hand out to me.

"Uh, hello?" I replied, shaking her hand.

"Dr. Smith is a telepath and an empath. We originally wanted to bring her on board to see if she could help figure out exactly how you're able to read Darwin's mind," Bridger explained.

"But now, we were thinking that she might be able to help you with your memory," Dr. Westphalen continued. I smiled.

"Although I'd like to get settled in my room first, and I've had a long trip," Dr. Smith said. Bridger nodded, and showed her out of the med-bay. Lucas smiled at me, and I smiled back at him…


	23. movie night

**Penny's P.O.V. **

"Okay just relax, keep calm, and think about the first time you came to_ seaQuest_," Dr. Smith told me. I could see Dr. Westphalen standing in the doorway watching us. I took a deep breath and tried to think about my first day here.

"Don't let Darwin help you with this one," Dr. Smith added.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Well, I want to see if you can remember something on your own," she explained. I sighed, but did as she said. I closed my eyes, and relaxed…

…_I was standing next to the moon pool, petting Darwin. An older man and a guy about my age came walking into the room. "Hello," I said, turning to face them. _

"_Hello," said the older guy, looking around. Kristin walked over._

"_Ah, Captain Bridger, Lucas, I'd like you to meet Penny. She is the newest member of my science team," Kristin said. Lucas stared at me for a second._

"_Oh, um, hello," Lucas said._

"_Hi," I said. At that moment, another guy ran into the room, holding a water gun. _

"_Hey, Lucas," he exclaimed. Lucas turned to him as the man pointed the water gun at him. Lucas ducked out of the way just as he fired. He completely missed Lucas and hit me square in the face. The only problem was that, instead of water, it was some sort of purple goo. It was all in my hair, and it covered my face._

"_Oh, crap," the man said._

"_Krieg, I think you better run," Lucas said. Krieg dropped the water gun and ran out of the room._

"_Are you okay?" Dr. Westphalen asked, giggling._

"_Yeah, I just have to go kill someone," I answered, grabbing the water gun and running after Krieg. I could hear Dr. Westphalen, Lucas, and the captain laughing behind me…_

"I did it," I exclaimed, smiling. Dr. Westphalen and Dr. Smith both smiled back at me.

"Hey, what'd I miss?" Bridger asked, walking into the room with Lucas right behind him.

"I just remembered my first day on _seaQuest_," I told them.

"That's great," Lucas replied, sitting down in a chair next to me.

"Okay, so you've been asking me all kinds of questions for the past half hour. Now, it's my turn to ask you a question," I said.

"All right, shoot," she replied.

"Well, actually it's more of a question for you two, Captain, Dr. Westphalen," I replied.

"Like she said, go ahead, ask away," Bridger replied.

"How did you know that she would be a good choice for helping me with being able to hear Darwin's thoughts?" I asked.

"Well, I dated her mother," Bridger stated.

"Oh," I replied. Lucas was looking back and forth between Dr. Smith and me. Dr. Smith smiled.

"Well, why don't we leave you alone for a little while?" Dr. Smith said, winking slightly at Lucas.

"Huh?" Bridger and Dr. Westphalen said at the same time.

"I think Lucas has something he wants to ask Penny," Dr. Smith replied, pulling Bridger and Dr. Westphalen out of the room. I giggled.

"So, what do you want to ask me?" I asked, looking over at Lucas.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie with me. We could watch it here in the med-bay if you want?" Lucas asked, smiling at me.

"Yeah, sure, it sounds like fun," I replied. He smiled.

"Okay, so what movie do you want to watch?" he asked.

"Hm, why don't you pick?" I replied.

"All right, but it's going to be a surprise then," Lucas said. I smiled.

"Fine by me," I said.

Hours later, I was curled up next to Lucas while we watched _The Vow_. The movie was great, and the popcorn was almost as good as movie theatre popcorn, even though it was burnt a little. I rested my head on his chest and shoved a piece of popcorn in my mouth…


	24. bad news

**Penny's P.O.V. {One week later}**

Dr. Smith had helped me remember almost everything about the past 7 months, but there were a few things I couldn't remember. Like, for example, who the heck were Tony and Tailor and why did I want to punch them? I sighed. This past week had been fun. Lucas and I had watched a movie every night after my sessions with Dr. Smith. We were currently watching _Unstoppable_. I rested my head on his shoulder, and drifted off to sleep.

_ I was sitting on my bed, looking around the room. I looked up towards the tube where Darwin was floating. I smiled at him. Then, I heard the door open. I turned towards the door to see a man, dressed in a blue uniform walking towards me. _

"_Can I help you?" I asked, standing up. Darwin was shaking his head._

"_Bad man; bad man leave," Darwin yelled, shaking his head furiously. _

"_What?" I questioned, turning to look at Darwin._

"_Bad man!" Darwin screamed. _

"_You don't remember me?" the man asked. I know that I knew him from somewhere, but I couldn't seem to remember his name. I shook my head._

"_Well, I would have thought you'd remember the man who gave you the ability to hear Darwin's thoughts," the man replied. The image of me tied to a chair came back to me. Then, the scene changed to one of Lucas and me setting boxes down on a desk._

"_Dr. Bender?" I asked, giving him a funny look. He smiled. Suddenly I was flooded with the memory of him injecting something into Darwin and me. Then, I saw him explaining what he was trying to do. And, I remembered the first time I heard Darwin's thoughts. _

"_But… but you're supposed to be in jail," I said, dumbfounded. He just smiled at me._

"Penny, it's just a dream," Lucas said, shaking my shoulders. I opened my eyes.

"That's what we both said last time, and the last dream came true," I muttered sleepily. He frowned. Suddenly, Dr. Smith came running into the room.

"Are you all right?" she asked. I nodded my head.

"I just had this feeling that you were scared, and that something was wrong," Dr. Smith explained.

"Ah, well… okay, so here's the thing. Right before our dance date, I had this dream about you coming to _seaQuest_ and of me being, well, kind of dead. And, just now, I had this dream that Dr. Bender was here on _seaQuest_," I stated quickly. Dr. Smith thought for a second.

"I think I know what's going on," she said thoughtfully. But before she could say anything, Bridger and Dr. Westphalen walked into the room, both with very worried expression on their faces.

"Ah, Penny, there's something we have to tell you," Dr. Westphalen said.

"Dr. Bender escaped from jail about an hour ago," Bridger added.


	25. physic

**Penny's P.O.V.**

I stared wide-eyed at Bridger and Dr. Westphalen. I couldn't seem to find my voice, and from the way Lucas and Dr. Smith stood there, it seemed as if they couldn't find their voices either. I couldn't help but think back to my dream.

"_Bender, stay away," _Darwin exclaimed in my head. I nodded.

"Darwin saying something?" Bridger asked. I nodded my head again.

"Well, don't worry, Penny. Dr. Bender isn't going to get anywhere near here," Dr. Westphalen stated, pulling me into a hug. I nodded my head. But somehow, I doubted that Dr. Bender wouldn't find some way of getting on _seaQuest._

"And even if he did manage to get on _seaQuest,_ he won't be able to get anywhere near you because you'll have people guarding you at all times," Bridger added.

"Ah, well, not to change the subject, but I think I found something out about Penny and why she and Darwin were able to sync up so well," Dr. Smith said slowly. I looked over at her.

"Well, a couple of seconds before you guys walked in, Penny told me about how she had a dream about her and Lucas's dance date before it happened, and-"

"You had a dream about your date before it happened?" Bridger asked, interrupting Dr. Smith.

"Oh we forgot to tell you about that, didn't we?" I muttered. Bridger nodded his head.

"Well, she also told me that a moment before I came to talk with them that she also had a dream that Dr. Bender was on _seaQuest_. I think that Penny has clairvoyant abilities. Therefore, when Dr. Bender… ah… well… connected them, she was already predisposed to such…abilities," Dr. Smith explained. I felt my jaw drop.

"You think… I'm _psychic_?" I asked, once again dumbfounded.

"Well, it _would_ explain your dreams," Dr. Westphalen said.

"But I don't remember having these dreams before I was connected to Darwin," I replied.

"Well, your ability might have been limited before that. Many people have psychic abilities and are unaware of it. Many will have intuition, meaning they'll have a bad feeling right before something bad happens. You probably experienced the same thing and being connected to Darwin enhanced that ability, making it stronger," Dr. Smith explained.

"Okay, so you're saying that not only do I have some crazy person coming after me but now I'm psychic?" I exclaimed. I was feeling a little sick.

"_Penny, sit down; Penny, rest,"_ Darwin said. I nodded my head and sat down in a chair. Dr. Westphalen put her hand on my forehead.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm just feeling a little sick," I told her.

"Well, then, you should get some sleep," Dr. Westphalen ordered. I nodded my head.

"I'll walk you back to your room," Lucas said.

"Chief Crocker will be assigning someone to keep watch outside of your room," Bridger stated. I nodded my head once again and walked out of Lucas's room, Lucas in tow. I turned down the hall and headed towards my room.

"Are you sure you're fine?" he asked.

"Yeah, just feeling a little sick," I replied, giving him a small smile. When we got to my room, there was a tall man with black hair and brown eyes standing outside my door.

"I'm guessing you're the officer that Chief Crocker assigned… me…?" I asked. The man nodded his head. Lucas opened my door, and I walked into my room.

"Thanks for walking me to my room," I said. He smiled at me.

"No problem and don't worry; everything's going to be fine," Lucas assured me, giving me a small kiss…


	26. movies and lunch

**Penny's P.O.V. {The next day}**

I was sitting on my bed, thinking about the dream I had. If the other dream came true, does that mean that this one is going to come true also? I hated this; I want to be able to walk around _seaQuest_ without feeling like my life is in danger. I sighed. Suddenly, my door opened, and Lucas walked into the room. He held up a movie, _Terminator 2_.

"Feel like watching a movie?" he asked, waving the movie back and forth. I smiled and nodded my head.

"Well then come on over to my room where there's actually a computer we can watch it on," he said, motioning for me to follow him to his room. I jumped off my bed and followed him out of my room. The guard that Chief Crocker had assigned me followed us to Lucas's room and stood outside his room. I sat down on the bed and watched as Lucas put the DVD in the computer. This is just what I need to feel better…

**{Two hours later}**

"I always loved that movie," I exclaimed when the movie ended. Lucas smiled and took the DVD out of the computer.

"So I picked a good movie then?" he said. I nodded my head and smiled at him.

"How you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I replied.

"_Penny and Lucas having fun. Darwin having fun,"_ Darwin exclaimed. I laughed.

"What? What's so funny?" Lucas asked.

"It's Darwin; he's so funny," I giggled.

"Sometimes, I forget about you two," Lucas replied, also laughing. I smiled.

"So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Lucas asked.

"_Lucas and Penny play with Darwin!"_ Darwin said.

"We could play with Darwin," I replied.

"Let me guess; Darwin's Idea," Lucas said. I nodded my head, and giggled.

"Sure, we can play with Darwin," he said. We got up and walked out of his room, towards the moon pool…

**{The next day ~ Mess Hall}**

I was sitting at one of the tables with Lucas eating lunch while a guard was sitting at the table next to us. I was eating a peanut butter sandwich, and Lucas was eating a turkey sandwich. Bridger and Dr. Westphalen walked over to us and sat down.

"You can take a break," Bridger said, looking at the guy sitting at the table next to us. The man nodded his head and left.

"Looks like we're out of luck," Dr. Westphalen mumbled.

"Why, what's wrong?" Lucas asked.

"Well we'll be docking in about a day, and most of the crew will be on shore leave," Bridger explained.

"So, basically, it'll be somewhat easy for Dr. Bender to get onto _seaQuest_?" I exclaimed.

"Well, yes and no. Yes, because we won't have as many people to watch over you, and no, because we'll have _seaQuest_ locked down tight, no-one in or out after the crew leaves, and then there's the fact that we have to get some more supplies when we dock," Bridger replied. I nodded my head slightly and took a bite out of my sandwich…


	27. mystery crate

We'd docked about an hour ago, and half the crew had already left. Krieg, Chief Crocker, and Tim were bringing supplies on board while I was stuck in the moon pool area with nothing to do. I sighed. I hated not being able to help. The only people who'd be staying on _seaQuest_ with me would be Lucas, Bridger, Dr. Westphalen, Dr. Smith, Krieg, Chief Crocker, and Tim.

"_Penny okay?"_ Darwin asked. I nodded my head.

"I'm fine, just a little tired," I replied. Darwin nodded his head.

"_Penny play with Darwin?"_ he asked. I smiled.

"Yeah, I could use some fun time," I stated, getting up and grabbing a wet suit. I ran to the bathroom and changed, then ran back to the moon pool. I climbed into the moon pool and grabbed hold of Darwin's dorsal fin. We swam through the tubes, and I stared out through the glass at the people walking towards the loading dock. Suddenly, I felt dizzy, and everything went black for a couple of seconds…

_…I was walking towards the loading dock with my hair wrapped in a towel. I was wearing the clothes I'd been wearing before I went swimming, though my shirt was slightly damp from my wet hair. I walked into the loading dock, just as the last crew members were leaving, and Commander Ford and Lieutenant Krieg were unloading a big crate. They set the crate down._

"_Man what's in this thing, rocks?" Krieg asked sarcastically. Commander Ford frowned and nodded his head slightly. _

"_All right, this thing goes to the kitchen," Commander Ford stated, looking down at the chart…_

…Whoa, a little warning would be nice before getting one of these visions.

"_Vision bad?" _Darwin asked. I shook my head.

"_No, but they're just so sudden that it's a little discomforting," _I replied. Darwin nodded his head.

"_Let's go back to the moon pool area,"_ I said. Darwin turned around and swam back to the moon pool. I climbed out of the pool and grabbed a towel. My PAL beeped, and I reached over and grabbed it off of the table.

"Hey Penny, the Captain wants me to put away some of the kitchen supplies. Wanna help?" Lucas asked. I smiled.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be down in the kitchen in a minute. I've gotta change," I replied.

"Oh, I'm in the loading dock, helping to unload one of the launches," Lucas stated.

"Uh… okay, then I'll be down at the loading dock in a couple of minutes," I said. I put my PAL away and changed quickly. I wrapped a towel around my hair, and headed for the loading dock. As I walked into the loading dock, Lieutenant Krieg, and Commander Ford were unloading a huge crate. Déjà vu much? They set the crate down.

"What's in this thing, rocks?" Krieg asked, sarcastically. Commander Ford nodded his head and frowned.

"All right, this thing goes to the kitchen," Commander Ford stated, looking down at the chart. They picked the crate up and carried it off towards the kitchen. Lucas walked out of one of the launches, carrying a box.

"I'll be right with you in a couple of minutes; I'm almost finished here," Lucas said.

About ten minutes later, Lucas and I were in the kitchen putting things away. I reached up and put a box of corn flakes on the top of a shelf. I looked down at my box, which was empty, then I looked over at Lucas. He was opening up a small box. I walked over to the pile of boxes in the corner and picked one up. Just as I was turning around, I noticed that the big crate that I'd seen Krieg and Commander Ford carrying was open slightly. I set my box down, grabbed the lid of the crate, and pushed it onto the floor. I looked inside the crate to see that it was empty.

"Uh, Lucas, did you already put away the things inside of this crate?" I asked, looking over at Lucas. Lucas shook his head.

"No, not yet," Lucas replied, walking over to me.

"Do you think Commander Ford and Krieg put away the things inside of it?" I asked. Lucas shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. They're still unloading one of the launches," Lucas stated.

"Well, then who opened it, and what was inside it?" I asked.

"I don't know. There's no tag on the crate," Lucas said. I was starting to feel dizzy again and my vision went black…

…_I was standing next to the moon pool, but everything was blurry. I saw someone walking towards me, but I couldn't see who. Then, there was a flash. I looked down at the moon pool, the water completely red…_


	28. Shrek movie night

Lucas pulled out his PAL, and called Bridger. A few minutes later, Bridger and Commander Ford walked into the room. Commander Ford bent down and examined the crate.

"What do you think was in it?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Dr. Bender," Lucas replied. I groaned and sat down on a couple of boxes.

"Are you okay?" Bridger asked me. I nodded my head.

"I think I need to get some sleep," I exclaimed, jumping off the boxes and running to my room. I slammed the door shut and locked it. I grabbed a book off the shelf in the corner of the room and sat down on my bed. I opened up to the first page and started reading. Somehow, I managed to immerse myself in the book so that I forgot about everything else…

_ …I was sitting on my bed trying not to think about Dr. Bender being on __**seaQuest**__. Suddenly my PAL buzzed, and I grabbed it off of the night stand._

"_Hello," I said._

"_Penny, come down to the moon pool," Lucas said._

"_Yeah, sure; uh, why?" I asked. _

"_I was thinking that we could go for a swim with Darwin," Lucas replied, sounding a bit hurt._

"_Oh, yeah. Sorry; I'm just a bit out of it. I'll be right down," I said, getting up off the bed. I unlocked my bedroom door and walked down the hallway towards the moon pool. But when I got there, Lucas was nowhere around. I walked over to the pool and noticed Lucas's PAL lying on the floor. I could hear someone walking behind me. I turned to look, but everything was blurry, and I couldn't see who it was. Then, there was a flash, and I was floating in the moon pool. The water was completely red. Is this… blood? I swam over to the edge of the pool and tried to pull myself out of the water. But when I put pressure on my right arm, a bolt of pain shot up my fingers and continued up my arm. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming. I used my left arm to pull myself out of the moon pool. I could see someone lying on the floor behind a desk. I walked over to the desk, and looked at the person on the floor…_

…I sat up, and looked around me. My book was lying on the floor, and I'd kicked the blanket off the bed at some point. I sat back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. I wish I knew who it was in the dream and _if_ that was blood. This is insane. I shouldn't be here waiting for this stuff to happen. I shouldn't be sitting here worrying about whether or not Dr. Bender is going to come after me. I grabbed my PAL and called Lucas.

"Hey, Lucas, wanna watch a movie?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure, what movie?" he asked me.

"Um… hm… I'm not sure. Just pick a movie, and I'll be over at your room in a minute," I exclaimed, jumping off my bed. I unlocked my door, and walked to Lucas's room. When I walked into his room, he was putting a DVD in the computer.

"So what movie we watching?" I asked, giving him a smile.

"_Shrek_," he replied. I gave him a funny look.

"What? I couldn't think of anything else," he exclaimed, laughing. I laughed and sat down on his bed…

**Two hours later**

"Okay, your first kiss?" Lucas asked me.

"Uh, my first kiss… okay, so I was ten, and it was with one of my best friends. We were playing a game of tag, and my friend Tamie tagged me, only when she tagged me, she kinda gave me a little shove, and I fell on top of my friend, Henry, and accidently kissed him," I explained. Lucas laughed.

"Aw ,that's so cute," he exclaimed, laughing. I giggled.

"Yeah, my face was so red, and Henry wouldn't even look at me for over a week," I stated. Lucas laughed again.

"What about your first kiss?" I asked.

"Ah, well, my first kiss was with my friend Sammy. There really wasn't anything special about it," he replied.

"Oh, come on; there had to be something special about it," I exclaimed.

"Well, not special like yours, but I mean, it was a great kiss," Lucas stammered. I laughed.

"_Darwin never been kissed,"_ Darwin stated.

"_Aw, don't worry I'll give you a kiss when I see you,"_ I replied.

"I know that look; so what's he saying?" Lucas asked.

"That he's never been kissed," I said.

"Oh," Lucas exclaimed. I smiled.

"Thanks for watching the movie with me; I needed something to get my mind off of…well, you know," I exclaimed. He nodded his head and smiled at me. Then, he leaned over and gave me a quick kiss…


	29. chapter 29

I sat up at the sound of my PAL going off across the room. I got up and grabbed the PAL off the small desk.

"Hello," I said.

"Hey, Penny, come down to the moon pool," Lucas exclaimed over the PAL. My thoughts immediately went to the dream I'd had the other night.

"Uh, why?" I asked.

"I thought we could go for a swim with Darwin," he replied, sounding a bit hurt.

"Uh… uh… oh, yeah. Sorry, sure. I'll be there in a couple of minutes," I answered.

"All right; see you in a couple of minutes," he said. I put my PAL down and changed out of my PJ's and into a wet suit. I grabbed my PAL and unlocked my door. The dream I had flashed through my mind as I walked down the hall.

"Hey, where you going?" Krieg asked me.

"To the moon pool; Lucas and I are going to go for a swim with Darwin," I replied. Krieg nodded his head.

"Just call if you need me," he stated. I nodded my head and walked down the hall towards the moon pool. Please let this be the one dream that doesn't come true. I stopped suddenly when a thought entered my head. Why wasn't Darwin talking with me? My mind has been completely clear and quiet for the past twenty minutes, and I'd been too busy worrying about when and where Dr. Bender was going to show up that I hadn't even noticed Darwin's absence. I started running down the hall and reached the moon pool within a minute. I dashed into the room, but didn't see anyone in here. I walked over to the pool and noticed a PAL unit lying on the floor.

I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked around the room. I could see something floating in the pool on the other side. I set the PAL down on the side of the pool and ran over to the other side. I could see Darwin floating in the middle of the pool.

"Darwin," I exclaimed. He didn't move. I couldn't see anything wrong with him; the thing that worried me was that he wasn't moving, and that I couldn't hear his thoughts. Another horrible thought popped into my head. What if he's dead? I climbed into the pool and swam over to him. I put my hand on his side and pulled him over to the side of the pool. I could see his sides moving as he breathed.

"Darwin, what's wrong," I asked him, examining him for marks.

"He'll be fine. I just gave him a small sedative," a voice said from across the room. I looked up to see Dr. Bender standing in the doorway of the room, and he was gripping Lucas's arm with one hand; in the other hand, he was holding a knife.

"Come on out of the pool," Dr. Bender exclaimed. I climbed out of the pool, and Dr. Bender dragged Lucas over to where I was standing.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"I just want to see how my experiment is working out," he replied.

"Penny, I'm so sorry; I didn't know he was in here when I asked you to go for a swim," Lucas exclaimed. I gave him a small smile.

"It's alright," I replied. I glared at Dr. Bender.

"Well, you really can't see how your experiment is working if Darwin is knocked out," I stated. Dr. Bender smiled.

"He should wake up in a couple of minutes," Dr. Bender said. This is a nightmare. I swear, I'm really going to kill this man.

"Now, sit down," he told me, pulling out a chair. I sat down in the chair, and Dr. Bender pulled out another chair for Lucas. Lucas sat down, and Dr. Bender walked back over to the door and shut it.

"_Penny,"_ Darwin exclaimed.

"_Are you okay?" _I asked him.

"_Darwin tired,"_ he replied.

"_Stay still; don't move until I tell you to, okay?" _I told him. A plan was forming in my head, and I needed Darwin for it…


	30. Chapter 30

I sat back in my seat and explained the plan to Darwin. Since Dr. Bender didn't know that Darwin was awake, when Dr. Bender walked by him, Darwin would hit him with his tail; then, I'd grab the knife and Lucas's PAL and call for Bridger. It wasn't exactly a great plan, but at least it was a plan. Dr. Bender moved past me and towards Darwin. He bent down next to Darwin. Suddenly, Darwin's tail flew up and wacked Dr. Bender in the face. He stumbled back, but didn't drop the knife like I was hoping he would. He was still a bit disoriented, so I took a chance and grabbed for the knife. Lucas jumped up at the same time and grabbed the knife too.

I could see blood dripping out of Dr. Bender's nose. He scowled at us as we tried to wrestle the knife out of his hand. Dr. Bender grabbed Lucas and flung him to the side. Lucas fell backwards and smashed his head on a table. I yanked at the knife trying to pull it out of Dr. Bender's hand. I rammed my elbow into his side. His grip loosened on the knife for a second, but not enough so I could pull it out of his hand.

"Let go," he growled, grabbing my arm. I slammed my elbow into his side again, and he took a step back. I pulled at the knife and managed to yank it out of his hand. I could see blood dripping from his hand. His eyes went wide, and he looked up at me. He still had a grip on my other arm, and it felt like he was crushing it. I kicked him in the leg, and he shouted in pain. He stumbled backwards and fell into the moon pool, bringing me with him; when I fell forward on top of him the knife slammed into his stomach. We both went under the water, and at first, I couldn't get back above the surface. I felt Darwin nudging me with his nose, and I grabbed hold of his fin.

He pulled me up above the water, but Dr. Bender had a death grip on my arm. I could see blood pouring into the pool from the knife wound in his stomach. I reached down and pulled my arm out of his hand.

"_Penny okay?"_ Darwin asked. I nodded my head. That's when I remembered Lucas. I swam over to the edge of the pool and looked over to where Lucas was lying on the ground. I tried to pull myself out of the moon pool, but when I put pressure on my right arm, a bolt of pain shot up and down my arm. I used my left arm to pull myself out of the pool, with help from Darwin; then I ran over to Lucas.

"Lucas, wake up Lucas," I shouted, rolling him onto his back.

"_Lucas be all right?"_ Darwin asked. I hope so.

"Come on, Lucas wake up," I said. That's when I remembered that Krieg was standing just down the hallway.

"KRIEG!" I yelled, not wanting to leave Lucas lying here by himself.

"Help, I need some help in here," I yelled. I turned trying to find the PAL unit that I'd left lying on the side of the pool, but I couldn't find it. By now, the pool was almost completely red with blood.

"_Water nasty,"_ Darwin exclaimed, shaking his head back and forth. All right, Darwin, swim down to the bridge see if you can find Bridger. I looked down at Lucas who was still unconscious. I jumped up off the ground and ran out of the room and down the hall. Krieg was standing in the hallway were I'd last seen him.

"Krieg!" I shouted. He turned to look at me.

"I need your help," I shouted, just about in tears.

"What's wrong?" he asked, running towards me.

"Lucas is hurt," I replied, running back towards the moon pool. We ran into the moon pool area, and I heard Krieg gasp. I turned to look at him. He was staring at the moon pool, which was completely filled with blood now.

"Lucas?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Bender," I mumbled, running over to Lucas.

"Come on, Lucas, wake up," I grumbled. Suddenly Bridger, Dr. Westphalen, Ford, and Dr. Smith came running into the room.

"Oh, my God," Dr. Westphalen exclaimed.

"Darwin told us what happened," Bridger said, running over to us.

"He won't wake up," I exclaimed, looking up at Bridger. Dr. Westphalen rushed over and started looking him over.

"We need to get him to the infirmary," she exclaimed.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"I know he most likely has a concussion; it would be best if I could get him to the infirmary to see if there's anything else wrong with him," she replied. I nodded my head and watched as Bridger, Ford, and Krieg carried Lucas to the infirmary…


	31. Chapter 31

**Penny's P.O.V. {Infirmary}**

I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes. Lucas had been out for almost an hour, and I'm starting to get worried. Dr. Westphalen said there's nothing wrong with him. I sighed. Come on, wake up. Suddenly, his eyes flickered. I sat forward. His eyes opened, and he looked around, then tried to sit up.

"Oh, whoa, head ache," he grumbled. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around him.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, sitting back down in my seat.

"Other than the headache, I'm fine," Lucas replied. I smiled.

"What happened after I got knocked out?" Lucas asked.

"Ah, well… Dr. Bender and I struggled for the knife and we fell back into the moon pool. When we fell in, I accidently stabbed Dr. Bender," I mumbled, looking down at my hands.

"What happened to your hand?" Lucas asked, noticing that my hand was wrapped up.

"Oh, Dr. Bender kinda crushed my arm," I explained. Lucas nodded his head. At that moment, Dr. Westphalen and Dr. Smith both walked into the room.

"Hey, you're awake," Dr. Westphalen exclaimed, giving us a smile.

"And I have a huge headache," Lucas replied.

"Well, you did have a concussion," Dr. Smith stated.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Dr. Westphalen said. I watched Dr. Westphalen and Dr. Smith leave; then, I turned back to Lucas.

"So wanna watch a movie?" I asked. He smiled.

"What you have in mind?" he asked. I thought for a second.

"Not sure, you pick," I replied.

"Ah, how about _Free Willy_?" he suggested. I smiled and nodded my head…


End file.
